Miss Jane Birkin, singer, actress and fashion icon. Some might only know the Birkin name from the utterly expensive bags from Hermès. But might not be aware who that bag was made for and that it all started with a wicker basket.

Imagine getting on a plane, accidentally dropping all the contents of your bag on the ground and getting a bag named after you a year later. This is the origin of the famous Birkin bag. In 1983 Jane Birkin was seated next to Hèrmes chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin, at that time used to carry around wicker baskets to store all her belongings, it was definitely a cute look but not as practical. After storing the bag in the compartment all the contents fell out. Leaving a disheveled Jane Birkin and an inspired Jean-Louis Dumas.

A year later Dumas came to Birkin with The Birkin bag, a supple black leather bag, taken from an older design from 1982. The bag would be used by Birkin for years. 

These days the Birkin bag is probably the biggest status symbol of wealth in the fashion world. With absurd prices ranging from 10.000 up till 500.000. For these prices lots of the owners will rarely even wear the bag out. They want to keep it in pristine condition and maybe not get their money’s worth out of it by wearing it daily. For a bag that was inspired by an on the road independent woman I find it a little unfortunate that this is not how it’s being used by everyone. Birkin would decorate her bag with stickers and bangles ( in case you were wondering where this trend came from) and would stuff it till the max. These days bag prices are rising for all big brands and brands are making it much harder to buy a bag like this with waiting lists. If you thought a Birkin bag was hard to get after watching the Sex and the City episode with Samantha and the Birkin Bag, think again. These days it is so hard to get, that customers are suing Hèrmes for ‘the unlawful practice of tying’. 

I don’t think Jane Birkin or Jean-Louis Dumas expected their encounter to lead to such a big staple in the fashion industry that would eventually lead to separating the rich from the fuck you rich. Luckily for the fashionistas we can still put bangles on our regular bags and buy a second hand wicker basket and channel our inner Jane Birkin that way.