Jane Birkin, the British-French actress, singer, and style icon, is synonymous with timeless elegance, partly due to her association with the now-iconic Hermès Birkin bag. However, as the fashion world has evolved, her name has become a marketing tool for luxury, leading to the rise of popularization of the Birkin bag. Though I am sure that Jane herself would hate what we made of the Birkin bag
Why is the Birkin Bag called “Birkin”
I couldn’t write about the famous Birkin bag without telling it’s (suprisingly unfamous) story.
It all started when in 1981 Jane Birkin got sitted right next to Jean-Louis Dumas, a chairman of the design house Hermès. During the flight Jane spilled out the inside of her bag to which Dumas commented: “You should have one with pockets,” she replied with: “The day Hermès makes one with pockets I will have that.”. Dumas looked at her and said: “But I am Hermès, and I will put pockets in for you.”.
After, Jane sketched out, on an airplane sickness bag, how she would like the bag to look like. Dumas agreed to make it for her, but in one condition, he wanted to use her name “Birkin” for the name of the bag. That’s how the famous now Birkin bag was born.
Picture: Pinterest.com, Jane Birkin holding her Birkin Bag
So, you may ask, if she designed the bag herself, how could she hate it? There are two main reasons:
Firstly, hated even the original one for a very specific reason. Jane was a big supporter of animal rights, and she didn’t like that the Birkin was made from crocodile skin. She even asked Hermès to remove her name from the bag, because like she said, she was “alerted to the cruel practices endured by crocodiles during their slaughter for the production of Hermès bags carrying my name.” That’s the reason why, even thought Jane could have how many Birkin bags she wanted for free, she only had one. So for that reason she would strongly dissaprove how many celebrities, like Kim K or Jaffree Star, collect and buy as many Birkin’s as they can.
Secondly, like we can see from the story, the point of the bag was to make it big and WITH POCKETS so the bag’s owner could fit everything they needed. And the original bag fulfilled that role. However, today the Birkin bag’s get smaller and smaller with each one. Which is the TOTAL opposite of what the bag was designed to be. The Mini Birkin which is 25cm, as you can imagine can’t really fit a lot.
Secondly, like we can see from the story, the point of the bag was to make it big and WITH POCKETS so the bag’s owner could fit everything they needed. And the original bag fulfilled that role. However, today the Birkin bag’s get smaller and smaller with each one. Which is the TOTAL opposite of what the bag was designed to be. The Mini Birkin which is 25cm, as you can imagine can’t really fit a lot.
Photo: Pinterest.com, Jenifer Lopez with a rare, white Himalayan croc Birkin.
I can’t stress out how crazy that is, how people completely flipped the point of the Birkin bag. Right now, it’s a huge hustle to even look at a Birkin bag for most of the people. It’s cost often starts at $10,000 and even if you have the money you need to wait months or even years on the waiting list. All of that is the complete opposite of what Jane Birkin wanted. It was supposed to be a regular, comfortable and everyday life bag. Not a god everyone pray for.
Another thing I can’t even wrap my mind around is the Birkin-ifying trend.
If you don’t watch Tik-Tok or pretty much any socials you might not know what the Birki-ifying trend is. It’s a trend in which people who just bought a new Birkin, accessorize it by additing various chains, tags and charms and call it Birkin-ifying. Why? Because Jane herself wore her Birkin with lots of accessories.
So, why is it wrong, you can ask. Most of those people bought the accessories with the bag in Hermès or in an other store BUT alongside the bag. Unlike Jane whose accessories were bought not all together but in the time of years. Each one was from a different trip, country or just meant something for her. She made the bag hers by adding parts of her life to the bag. That is the complete opposite of what this trend is doing. It’s not adding yourself but just random things that may (or may not) look good.
My sources:
Photo of Jenifer Lopez: “Celebs Enjoy Ideal Lighting with Bags from Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurentz”
“Why the iconic Hermès Birkin was first designed on a sick bag”
“Why is Hermes’s most famous bag named after Jane Birkin?”
Front Picture: Pinterest.com
Leave a Reply