What Carrie Fisher Really Thinks About Princess Leia's Buns
Call them bagel buns, earmuffs, or cinnamon buns—there's no movie hairstyle as iconic—or imitated—as the one Princess Leia wears in the original Star Wars. So how did they come about? Will the buns make an appearance in the new film, The Force Awakens? And what does Carrie Fisher really think of them? I did some digging to find out.
In search of a timeless hair style for the rebel hero and princess of the (late) planet Alderaan, George Lucas looked to other cultures instead of contemporary trends. "I was working very hard to create something different that wasn’t fashion, so I went with a kind of southwestern, Pancho Villa woman, revolutionary look," he told Time in 2002. Another commonly cited inspiration was the women of Hopi tribe. "The unique look of those buns was what Lucas was after. He was creating a princess, but one who was on the run as a leader of the rebel alliance," says Laela French, the senior manager for collections and exhibits for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
And while those buns made her famous, Carrie Fisher is not a fan. She's even gone so far as to call them a "hair-don't, instead of a hair do." Here are some of the other no-so-nice things she's said about Leia's hair over the last four decades:
On proportion: "I weighed about 105 pounds at the time.... But I carried about 50 of those pounds in my face. So you know what a good idea would be...? Give me a hairstyle that further widens my already wide face!"
On building the buns: "It took them two hours to do that hairstyle. I’d come in at 5 in the morning, before anyone.... Later on, I did Saturday Night Live.... They clunked a hairpiece on, and it looked exactly the same."
On reprising her role as Leia Organa: "I’ve been begging them to do the gray buns. Granny Leia—cleaning up around the house, baking cookies in the shape of robots. Good ol’ Granny Leia.... Who wouldn’t want that?"
And that final question: Will the buns make a cameo in Episode 7? Fisher told a group of Star Wars fans earlier this year that she thinks the style is "tired now—so no, you’re not going to have futuristic buns." She added, "We have an alternate thing that I think you’ll be into —it is not the metal bikini, I promise."
When I pressed Lisa Tomblin, the lead hair designer for The Force Awakens, for details, she played it coy. "[Fisher's] main look in the new film is much more practical. It’s quite a simple look, so much time has passed since Return of the Jedi," says Tomblin. "But at the end of the new film, I wanted to give her a special look. An iconic Carrie look. It’s what fans are looking for." Take that as you will. I guess we'll have to wait until December 18 to find out!