Who designed Princess Leia's hair?
Princess Leia
George Lucas
Asked about his inspiration for the hairstyle, George Lucas told Time in 2008, "In the 1977 film, 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, which is what that is. The buns are basically from turn-of-the-century Mexico."[116] However, in 2015 Linda Rodriguez McRobbie of Mental Floss recounted research suggesting that while female Mexican revolutionaries of that time did not have such elaborate hairstyles, young marriageable Hopi women did, and their "squash blossom whorls" superficially resemble Leia's hair buns.[117][118][119][120] McRobbie also relates Michael Heilemann's theory that Leia's hairstyle was likely also inspired by that of two earlier characters: Queen Fria in the 1939 Flash Gordon comic strip "The Ice Kingdom of Mongo", and scientist Barnes Wallis’ wife Molly (played by Ursula Jeans) in the 1955 war film The Dam Busters.[117][118] Lucas was influenced by the Flash Gordon serials, and the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars is an homage to the penultimate bombing sequence in The Dam Busters.[121][122] Comparisons have also been made to the 4th century BC Iberian sculpture Lady of Elche,[117][118][123] as well as the 1920s "earphones" hairstyle.[117][124]