A monumental moment in fashion history is about to occur: Jane Birkin's original Hermès Birkin bag is going up for auction at Sotheby’s in Paris on the 10th July. And as Hanushka Toni, founder of luxury resale site Sellier, says, “we’re not just talking about a Birkin, we’re talking about the original—Jane’s personal bag and one that sparked a global icon”.
As any fashion fan will know, the story goes that the British actress was sat next to then–artistic director of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas, on an Air France flight in 1981. When packing up her belongings into her signature wicker basket—one she toted everywhere—they quickly spilled onto Dumas’s lap, prompting Birkin to share her frustrations that she could never find a bag large enough, yet still chic, to hold all of her and her daughter’s belongings. Not long after, the Birkin bag was born—an ode to Jane and her timeless, insouciant style. And it’s the very first version she received that is now about to go under the hammer.
