50 Most Iconic Star Wars Costumes

23. Padmé’s Funeral Gown

This is the last thing we ever see Padmé Amidala wearing, because it’s what her body’s been dressed in for her state funeral on Naboo after dying in childbirth.

Rick McCallum, one of the producers of the prequel trilogy, explains the fabric and color choices best on the entry for this gown in Dressing a Galaxy:

"“I remember asking Trisha [Biggar, costume designer] why she chose the specific fabric…She…very gently explained that the color — this beautiful azure blue — and the rippled fabric matched the ethereal and melancholy landscape of the Naboo retreat…where Padmé and Anakin fell in love. [The] funeral gown symbolizes her spiritual return to that lake” (200)."

Indeed it does, evoking the rippled and flowing gown she wears in AOTC when she arrives, and the loose hair, something typically associated with Padmé being more herself in private as opposed to the politician we see with her hair always up.

There’s actually a second connection to Anakin. The charm she holds was a gift from him in TPM, where he gives it to her for good fortune. She’s kept it all this time, and now she’ll take it with her into the next life.

Notably, the gown also very clearly exposes the fact that she was pregnant, maintaining the illusion that her children died with her. That helps Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa to hide the infant Luke and Leia more effectively, too.