“When you start recognising that you’re having fun, life can be delightful,” said Jane Birkin. She was talking about champagne – but could equally have been talking about her popular basket, which is now arguably the accessory of the summer.
“It’s such a weird story, because as a useful bag it doesn’t really function,” says fashion historian Tony Glenville. The then CEO of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas, apparently watched as the contents of one of Birkin’s baskets spilled out on an Air France flight to London in 1984. The bag’s obvious design flaws – no zips or pockets – inspired Dumas to create the leather Birkin handbag.
