What’s in the Bag !?!

Hermès is a French luxury design house, specialising in leather goods, jewellery, watches, footwear, clothing, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings and perfume. Hermès was created in 1837 in Paris as a family owned business.

In 1984, Jane Birkin had a chance encounter with a Hermès designer. Jane arrived onto the plane with her bag in tow (a basket at the time). As she sat down, her items scrambled across the aisle, catching the attention of the passenger seated next to her. She complained to him about the impracticality of bags – it was Jean-Louis Dumas. They worked together to make a bag known as the iconic Birkin Bag.

Jane Birkin OBE was born in 1946 in London. She was a British and French actress on film and television, appearing from 1965. Jane was also a singer, recording many albums. She modelled for Lee Cooper Jeans in 1978. Jane was also famous for her fight for womens’ rights and LGBTQIA+ rights. In 2002 Jane was diagnosed with leukaemia. Unfortunately, Jane passed away on 16th July 2023. She was an icon and will be missed by many.

The Birkin bag is a stylish leather tote bag. They are said to be quite useful due to their size as they can hold plenty. The bags have a high price and an exclusive waiting list to purchase one. The bag is a popular item with handbag collectors and were once the rarest bags in the world. The high price is due to the leather used and the rarity of the bag.

The Birkin bag has pockets that make it highly functional, and the bag seals to prevent anything from spilling. Hermès makes each bag entirely by hand. The fact that they are hand crafted with high quality materials that are extremely difficult to source, gives them a long life span, making them the perfect collectable item to only appreciate in value over time, providing you keep it in good condition, of course.

However, in 2015 Jane asked Hermès to remove her name from the best selling bag due to what she called cruel crocodile farming and slaughtering practices to make the bags. Hermes said the crocodile skins it sourced from a Texas farm were not those that were witnessed in the Petra video Jane watched and they did not own the farm. They could understand the stress Jane was under and respects her emotions and Hermes was also shocked by the video of the farm. Their friendship and confidence in each other remained in tact.

Despite the controversy, the popularity of the Birkin has remained over many years. It has been seen in many appearances on television and movies, due to its popularity and icon status. Sex and The City have now had two episodes on Birkin bags.