Jane Birkin's original Hermes bag sells at auction for more than $10 million
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Birkin asked Dumas why Hermes didn't make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit bag the sort of hold-all that she would like. He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Hermes asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.
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'There is no doubt that the Original Birkin bag is a true one-of-a-kind — a singular piece of fashion history that has grown into a pop culture phenomenon that signals luxury in the most refined way possible. It is incredible to think that a bag initially designed by Hermes as a practical accessory for Jane Birkin has become the most desirable bag in history,' said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's head of handbags and fashion.
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The bag became so famous that Birkin once mused before her death in 2023 at age 76 that her obituaries would likely 'say, 'Like the bag' or something.'
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'Well, it could be worse,' she added.
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Sotheby's said that seven design elements on the handcrafted all-black leather prototype set it apart from Birkins that followed.
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It's the only Birkin with a nonremovable shoulder strap _ fitting for the busy life and practicality of the singer, actor, social activist and mother who was also known for her romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg and their duets that included the steamy 1969 song 'Je t'aime moi non plus' ('I Love You, Me Neither').
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Her bag also had a nail clipper attached, because Birkin 'was never one for long painted nails,' Sotheby's said.
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The bag that Hermes handmade for her, developed off its existing Haut A Courroies model, also has gilded brass hardware, bottom studs and other features that differ from commercial Birkins.
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Birkin's casual, breezy style in the 1960s and early 1970s _ long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit minidresses and basket bags — still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.
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'More than just a bag'
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When Birkin chatted to Hermes' Dumas on the Paris-to-London flight about what her ideal handbag would be, she'd been in the habit of carrying her things around in a wicker basket, because she felt handbags in the 1980s were too small, Sotheby's said. She was traveling with her young daughter, Charlotte, and complained that she couldn't find a bag suitable for her needs as a mother, Hermes says.
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Hermes later gifted her four other Birkin bags. She kept the prototype for nearly a decade, before auctioning it for an AIDS charity in 1994. It was auctioned again in 2000 and had since been in private hands.
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The previous owner, who identified herself only as Catherine B., told journalists at the auction that the bag 'has all the attributes of a star.'
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'The price is the price of the Hermes story,' she said.
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Sotheby's called it 'more than just a bag.'
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