Jane Birkin's original Hermes bag sold for over RM42mil in an intense auction

The Star

2 days ago

Sketched out on an air sickness bag, the first Birkin handbag – the prototype for fashion's must-have accessory – sold for a staggering €8.6mil (approximately RM42.8mil), including fees, on Thursday (July 10) in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion item ever sold at auction.
The winning bid of €7mil (RM34.9mil) drew gasps and applause from the audience. The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag – US$513,040 (RM2.2mil) paid in 2021 for a Hermes White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.
Now, the original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and fashion icon that Hermes created it for (Jane Birkin, who died in 2023), is in a new league of its own.
Only one fashion item has sold at auction for more: a pair of ruby red slippers from The Wizard Of Oz , which sold for US$32.5mil (RM138.3mil) in 2024, Sotheby's said.
The Paris auction room buzzed with anticipation as the sale got underway, with the auctioneer reminding the crowd that the bag was "totally unique' and "the most famous bag of all time'.
The bidding started at €1mil (RM4.98mil) but quickly increased, with telephone bidders fighting it out at the end.
With Sotheby's fees included, the total price for the winning bidder from Japan was a cool €8.6mil (RM42.8mil) euros, the auction house said.
Read more: Can't get your hands on a Birkin? Here's your chance to own THE original Birkin
From the starting price, bids rocketed past two million euros, then three million, four million and five million (RM10mil, RM15mil, RM20mil and RM25mil), to astonished gasps.
When the price jumped from €5.5mil to €6mil (RM27.4mil to RM29.9mil) in one swoop, there were whistles and applause.
The final bids were €6.2mil (RM30.9mil), then €6.5mil (RM32.4mil), then €6.8mil (RM33.9mil) before the Japanese buyer's last winning bid: €7mil (RM34.9mil).
Sotheby's didn't identify the buyer. Nine collectors bidding by telephone, online and in the room competed in the 10-minute auction battle, with a private collector from Japan beating a last remaining other bidder at the end.
Paris fashion house Hermes exclusively commissioned the bag for the London-born Jane in 1984 – branding it with her initials JB on the front flap, below the lock – and delivered the finished one-of-a-kind bag to her the following year, Sotheby's said.
The subsequent commercialised version of Jane's bag went on to become one of the world's most exclusive luxury items, extravagantly priced and with a yearslong waiting list.
The bag was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas.
Jane recounted in subsequent interviews that the pair got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor.
Jane asked Dumas why Hermes didn't make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit bag the sort of hold-all that she would like.
He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Hermes asked whether it could commercialise the bag in her name.
"There is no doubt that the Original Birkin bag is a true one-of-a-kind – a singular piece of fashion history that has grown into a pop culture phenomenon that signals luxury in the most refined way possible," said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's head of handbags and fashion.
"It is incredible to think that a bag initially designed by Hermes as a practical accessory for Jane Birkin has become the most desirable bag in history."
The bag became so famous that Jane once mused before her death in 2023 at age 76 that her obituaries would likely "say, 'Like the bag' or something.'
"Well, it could be worse," she added.
Sotheby's said that seven design elements on the handcrafted all-black leather prototype set it apart from Birkins that followed.
It's the only Birkin with a nonremovable shoulder strap – fitting for the busy life and practicality of the singer, actor, social activist and mother who was also known for her romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg and their duets that included the steamy 1969 song Je T'aime Moi Non Plus (I Love You, Me Neither).
Her bag also had a nail clipper attached, because Birkin "was never one for long painted nails', Sotheby's said.
The bag that Hermes handmade for her, developed off its existing Haut A Courroies model, also has gilded brass hardware, bottom studs and other features that differ from commercial Birkins.
Jane's casual, breezy style in the 1960s and early 70s – long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit minidresses and basket bags – still epitomises the height of French chic for many women around the world.
Read more: Like the famous bag named after her, Jane Birkin is a style icon
When Jane chatted to Hermes' Dumas on the Paris-to-London flight about what her ideal handbag would be, she'd been in the habit of carrying her things around in a wicker basket, because she felt handbags in the 1980s were too small, Sotheby's said.
She was traveling with her young daughter, Charlotte, and complained that she couldn't find a bag suitable for her needs as a mother, Hermes says.
Hermes later gifted her four other Birkin bags. She kept the prototype for nearly a decade, before auctioning it for an Aids charity in 1994. It was auctioned again in 2000 and had since been in private hands.
The previous owner, who identified herself only as Catherine B, told journalists at the auction that the bag "has all the attributes of a star'.
"The price is the price of the Hermes story,' she said.
Sotheby's called it "more than just a bag'.
"The Birkin has evolved from a practical accessory to become a timeless cultural icon," it said.
"Its presence spans the worlds of music, film, television and the arts," it added. "It is a red-carpet staple, a fashion magazine mainstay, and a coveted piece in the wardrobes of celebrities, artists and stylists.' – AFP