Jane Birkin, je t’aime


Rakewell article

What is not to love about a tale of a luxury item overcoming the odds and selling for even more money than is expected at auction? In Paris on Thursday, the prototype Birkin handbag made by Hermès was sold by Sotheby’s for €8.6 million – an amount that might make you think ‘di doo dah’. The story is, by now, well known: chanteuse, actor and It girl Jane Birkin was about to sit down in her first class seat on a plane from Paris to London when the contents of her basket bag spilled out. Sitting next to her was Jean-Louis Dumas, the then artistic director of Hermès. They started talking about a bag that would be able to fit the wallet, keys, business cards, nappies, cigarettes and glasses that Birkin carried with her. They started sketching it out on a sick bag and, lo, in 1985, the Birkin was born.

At 27cm, the original is a slightly different height from the bag that is currently produced by the fashion house. The studs on the bottom are smaller and it comes with a custom designed pair of nail clippers that Birkin kept hanging from the base of the shoulder strap. While the inclusion of nail clippers might sound a little fussy, your roving correspondent can attest to Birkin’s natural style and flair: he once saw her walking her beloved bulldog Dora round the streets of the 7th in Paris. Rakewell is sure that there is no style Birkin could not pull off.

Jane Birkin’s Original Birkin, sold at Sotheby’s Paris in July 2025. Courtesy Sotheby’s

This particular bag has a storied past, having been exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London – but surely that is not enough to elevate the price to such a degree. Rakewell has never bought a Birkin but understands that the prices start from around $11,000.

The Birkin, like its stablemate the Kelly (another bag named after an icon of the silver screen – Grace Kelly), occupies a particularly fetishised position in the world of handbags. It has appeared in films such as The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Blue Jasmine (2013) and, of course, makes many an appearance in the world of Sex and the City. But rather than seeing the Sotheby’s sale as a translation of cultural capital into financial capital, perhaps it is about something much more essential, a subject that Birkin knew only too well: love. Birkin, je t’aime.