The very first Hermès Birkin bag, custom-made for British-born French actress and singer Jane Birkin, fetched a record-breaking price of 8.6 million euros (about 42.7 million ringgit) at Sotheby’s in Paris on the 10th, sold to a private Japanese buyer who bid by telephone.
According to fashion industry legend, this iconic bag that took the world by storm originated from a chance encounter between Jane Birkin and Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas in 1981. The two began chatting on a Paris-to-London flight after Birkin accidentally spilled the contents of her bag onto the airplane floor.
Reportedly, because handbags in the 1980s were too small, Birkin was in the habit of carrying her belongings in a wicker basket. Following their encounter on the plane, Birkin asked Dumas why Hermès didn’t make a “bag half the size of a suitcase”, and then sketched her ideal large-capacity bag on an airline sickness bag. Afterwards, in 1984, Hermès custom-made this prototype bag for Birkin and delivered it to her a year later. Delighted, Birkin soon agreed to let the fashion brand commercialize the product under her name.
Hermès first made one for Jane Birkin, then began to produce smaller versions for public sale. The Birkin bag immediately became a huge hit, further propelling the growth of the Hermès brand.
The typical selling price of a Birkin bag exceeds US$10,000, but the first Birkin’s flap is marked with Jane Birkin’s initials “J.B.”, and unlike later versions, its shoulder strap is not detachable. Sotheby’s stated that this also marks the highest ever auction price for a fashion accessory.
Wassii, head of Sotheby's Handbags & Fashion Department for Europe & the Middle East, noted that the Birkin was originally intended as a travel bag, and this one was used by Jane Birkin daily for nine years, yet still looks remarkably beautiful.
The widely followed prototype bag has also changed hands several times. Birkin kept the prototype for about ten years, then auctioned it in 1994, donating the proceeds to an AIDS charity. In 2000, at a private auction for an undisclosed price, a Parisian collector using the pseudonym “Catherine B.” acquired the bag.
Previously, the most expensive bag ever sold was a diamond-encrusted Himalayan crocodile Kelly bag, which fetched HK$4 million (about US$510,000) at Christie’s in 2021. The highest-ever auction price for a fashion item was set last year when an original pair of ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz sold for US$32.5 million.