Our pal Bonnie Burton from LucasFilm says: “Our very own Starwars.com designer Craig Drake created this AWESOME ’80s-inspired Princess Leia poster!” Snip from the description:
For the uninitiated (or too young to remember), artist Craig Drake’s “The Princess” artwork is reminiscent of the pervasive style of illustrator Patrick Nagel, whose posters and prints became fixtures of interior design during the 1980s (older fans might remember the artist’s famous cover illustration for Duran Duran’s Rio album from 1982). There’s also a hint of the guitar-strumming vamps of Robert Palmer’s classic ’80s “Addicted to Love” music video.
We asked Drake what inspired him to render Leia, another ’80s icon, in the era’s signature style. “Like a lot of Star Wars fans having grown up in the ’80s, I was exposed to some amazing signature pop culture visuals,” says Drake, who suggests Nagel’s style probably came closest to representing the fashion and oppulence of the ’80s. “Truthfully, his style really annoyed me as a kid, but as time went on I began rediscovering his work — his brilliantly minimalist yet bold vision of beautiful, strong women is what inspired me to illustrate Princess Leia.”
Read more about it here, y it here (Starwars.com). Why this is so beautiful and so eighties: it’s a sort of Patrick Nagel tribute.