While it may seem to us the most classic of classics today, it wasn’t until 1984 that Hermès first imagined the Birkin bag. It all started on a London-Paris flight. Jane Birkin tells: “My Hermès agenda was so full that everything fell out. He told me it would be better to put my personal items in closed pockets. I told him ‘If Hermès put pockets on…’. He replied ‘I’m Mr. Hermès and I’m going to put pockets on for you.’” This is how one of the most beautiful collaborations in fashion history began; and it was Jane herself who drew the lines for it. One month later, Jean-Louis Dumas would send the piece and ask if he could name it after her.
When a scandal surrounding the use of exotic hides in the fashion industry erupted in 2015, Jane Birkin demanded that her name no longer be associated with the bag. By denouncing “cruel slaughter practices” for animals, Birkin convinced Hermès to take the necessary precautions to change the status quo, and the two parties were able to reconcile. It now seems only natural that this Birkin bag that went for auction at Christie’s in Hong Kong on May 31 was much more than just an exceptional piece.
This style is very seldom produced – only two copies are released every year. Today, Hermès is even talking about definitively stopping production, “which partially explains its rise in popularity this season,” declared Matthew Rubinger, head of the international bags and accessories department at Christie’s. The Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 30 bag is made of crocodile leather. Encrusted with diamonds, its finishings are made of gold. This is one of the most coveted luxury bags in the world, according to Christie’s, and it went for the tidy sum of 338,000 Euros to an anonymous bidder.
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