The recent passing of actress Carrie Fisher has the world in mourning and remembering fondly her iconic role as Princess Leia. We are also well aware of her famous hairdo with those buns from that movie! However, not many people are aware of the inspiration behind those buns that we have mimicked ever since we first saw her sporting them in Star Wars.

Her hairstyle is explained by director George Lucas back in 2002 for this Time interview:

“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. Then it took such hits and became such a thing. In the new trilogy, the same thing applies, to try and do something timeless. I’m just basically having a good time.”

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This photo shows where the hairdo idea came from.

Associate professor, Eric Tang, from the University of Texas uploaded this photo on his Facebook page from a Star Wars art exhibit in Denver which showed the inspiration for Leia’s hair.

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This photo suggests that those buns were also inspired by this “squash blossom” style.

The young women of the Native American Hopi tribe worn this hairstyle at the turn of the century.

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These tribal women would wear their hair like this during their maidenhood.

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This picture shows the similarity between this turn of the century style and Princess Padmé’s look.

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So, it seems that this style is the iconic look for all bad ass women in both Star Wars and in history!

In an interview with BBC, Carrie Fisher said, “They didn’t want a stereotypical princess.” Clearly, it was a successful move!

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