The original Birkin handbag is being exhibited in France for the very first time.
Through Oct. 31, Sotheby’s, which recently celebrated the opening of its new Parisian headquarters, is staging a show titled “Excellence à la Française,” a tribute to “the finest examples of French artistic production over the last millennium.”
Although the Hermès brand was built on equestrian staples like saddles and bridles, today, the house is better known for its handbags. Released in 1984, the Birkin — named for the late actress Jane Birkin — has become a universal status symbol, with the sought-after leather totes boasting record-high resale prices and countless celebrity collectors.
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After meeting Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas on an airplane, Birkin herself sketched out the design on a sick bag. At the time, the British-French starlet typically traveled with a basket in hand, but as a young mother, she was in need of a carryall with pockets. Birkin based her blueprint on one of the brand’s popular models, the Kelly, whose namesake is also borrowed from an iconic actress, Grace Kelly.
Dumas added upon Birkin’s sketch by taking inspiration from Hermès’ Haut à courroies bag. He eventually gifted the actress a black calfskin prototype of the Birkin, suggesting that the purse be named after her.
“Tired of her baskets, Jane wanted a bag like [her partner] Serge Gainsbourg’s, the HAC, that he carried everywhere when traveling, but smaller, more practical, to wear on the arm or on the shoulder,” Catherine Bernier, owner of the first Birkin bag and founder of the Paris vintage boutique Les 3 Marches, which specializes in luxury collectibles, told WWD via email.
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Birkin, who died at the age of 76 last year, once speculated that the Hermès tote would remain a large part of her legacy.
“You know, when I’m dead, not only will people remember me for ‘Je t’aime…moi non plus,’ but they’ll possibly only talk about the bag,” she told CNN in 2020.
Birkin donated the black prototype to a charity auction for AIDS research in 1994. Bernier came upon the handbag through a friend of hers, who worked at an auction house and one day brought the coveted carryall out of a safe for Bernier to see.
Bernier purchased the bag for an undisclosed sum in 2000, and even today, she declines to reveal how much she spent. In Bernier’s mind, the monetary value of a “priceless” historical artifact should be of little interest.
“After my acquisition, I wanted to keep this iconic purchase a secret,” Bernier explained. “I limit exhibitions to exceptional places.”
Prior to the Sotheby’s show, the bag had only been publicly displayed twice: first at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2018 and then at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2020.
“In the spirit of French excellence, the choice focused on exceptional and unique pieces,” Bernier said. “The fashion and luxury department at Sotheby’s, I think, wanted to present a piece that tells the story of a house on its own. The Birkin is the flagship of the house of Hermès, and who better than Hermès to tell the story of saddlery, leather quality and craftsmanship?”
The original Birkin carries several unique identifiers: not only is it embossed with the actress’ initials, but it features gilded brass hardware, rather than the typical gold-plated. It’s also adorned with a nondetachable shoulder strap — an addition not seen on any other model — which Birkin used to hang her nail clipper. Additionally, the bag melds two separate sizes, the 35 and 40, respectively, combining the width and and height of the Birkin 35 with the depth of a Birkin 40.
Today, the Birkin’s standing as a signifier of luxury seems at odds with Birkin herself, whose minimalist, tomboy-chic wardrobe of T-shirts and jeans made her a style icon of the 1960s, a decade that marked a shift toward casual styles.
“The codes of the classic and elegant Hermès house are indeed an antagonism with the sometimes hippie style of Jane,” Bernier elaborated. “Even if Birkin was not the muse expected at Hermès, her casual side perfectly matches the gentleman farmer aesthetic of the brand — do not forget that the first customer of the house was the horse.”
Bernier argues that the prominence of Birkins has little to do with the actress’ fashion impact. Rather, perspective customers are interested in the handbag as an ultraexclusive commodity, especially in 2024, when owning luxury items is so often complimented by social media braggadocio.
“Women do not seek to look like Jane Birkin when they want to buy a Birkin,” Bernier said. “I think that this craze also comes from the fact that owning a Birkin is equivalent to owning a bit of the history of the house. Today the clientele attracted by Hermès is completely different — city dwellers who travel a lot, and who share on social media, don’t have much to do with the brand’s utilitarian origins.”
Still, how Birkin styled her eponymous handbag is as relevant as ever: this year’s bag charm craze can be attributed, at least in part, to Birkin, who was known to decorate her Hermès totes with stickers promoting her favorite causes, as well as beads and ribbons.
“Excellence à la Française” is on view at Sotheby’s Paris headquarters, located at 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.