JANE BIRKIN: ICON
When you think elegance, think Birkin. The English-French actress, singer, and style icon Jane Birkin passed away on July 16th of this year, but her influence on fashion will never die. Birkin is best known for inspiring the Hermés Birkin Bag, known as the most exclusive bag in the world, but not many know that in her later years, she distanced and called for the removal of her name from the bag.
The early years
Jane Birkin and partner Serge Gainsbourg at Gala de l’Union des Artistes in Paris 1969
Originally born and raised in England, Birkin first gained recognition after starring in the French film Slogan, co-starring with her future partner and long-time collaborator, Serge Gainsbourg. In 1969, their first single together, “Je t’aime . . . moi non plus” became the biggest-selling single for a foreign language record ever at that time, despite being banned on the radio in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom for its explicitness. Birkin continued recording into the seventies, releasing albums Di Doo Dah (1973) and Ex-fan des Sixties (1978). Birkin’s style is best described as laid-back Parisian chic, and Birkin was best known for dawning crochet dresses, a white tee and jeans, and tall over-the-knee boots. Birkin helped move Parisian fashion away from its longer stuffy, conservative, formalwear past, now it was modern, romantic, and chic, yet all while still being casual.
The bag
Jane Birkin with a Birkin bag in Paris 2010
You can’t mention the Birkin Bag without bringing up the Birkin basket, a bag Birkin famously carried everywhere throughout the seventies and eighties until her former partner Jacques Doillon ran it over with his car after an argument. Shortly after, Birkin complained to Jean-Louis Dumas, chief executive of Hermés, on a flight that she couldn’t find a good leather bag that could hold all of her things, and the rest is history. The bag has since become a status symbol of wealth and at one point, had a waiting list of six years. In 2015, tensions strained between Hermés and Birkin, as allegations of Hermés operating crocodile farms to supply hide for the bags broke. Birkin called for her name to be removed from the crocodile leather Birkin until ethical practices were put into place. Thankfully, we are still able to have the Birkin bag named after Jane Birkin. Birkin spoke about the bag’s effect on her legacy to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour, “When I’m dead, not only [will I be remembered for] ‘Je T’aime . . . Moi Non Plus’ and Blowup, but [people] will possibly only talk about the bag.”
