Birkin bag: Creating fashion’s iconic accessory

BBC-podcast on suurin jälkeen. Olen Shannon Maldonado. Käsin tehtyjä artesaanitua teitä myyvän jaujiin lahjakaupan perusta. Valitisin Shopify, koska alustoja testa testani totesin sen ehdottomasti yhdeksi helpokäyttöisimmistä alustoista. Minulla oli tärkeää pohtia kehittymistä me tulevaisuudessa. Kaikki myyntiin tarvittavat työkalut, kuten varaston suunnittelu ovat kätävästi dashboardissa. Aloita ilmainen kokeilu Shopify piste komsi vuos tolla. Hello and welcome to witness history from the BBC World Service with me, Jane Wilkinson. If you've heard us before, feel free to skip on a few seconds. But if you haven't, then thanks for dropping by. We're the podcast that brings history to life in just 9 minutes through the eyes of one key witness and lots of truly amazing news archive. So if you enjoy it, please subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. And now a story about a handbag designed in 1985 that's become the ultimate fashion accessory, seen hanging off the arms of celebrities and socialites. The Birken bag? - Really? - When I'm touring around town with that bag, I'll know I've made it. But if you want the original, you'll need very deep pockets as the BBC hinted at in 2025. How would you like to own a piece of fashion history? Well, you're in luck because Sudbury's is expected to begin auctioning off the original version of the iconic Airmer's Birken bag in Paris in just a few minutes. We now come to the style lot of this sale, Lot 8, which is the original Birken created in 1985 for Jane Birken at 1 million euro, we start the bidding. 1 million, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1. For now, let's leave that Paris auction room as the bids begin and explore the legend of the handbags history. It's the early 1980s and the British actress and model Jane Birken is living in France. She's become famous for her simple, relaxed style and for not carrying a traditional leather bag. Here she is speaking to the BBC in 2018. Because I had a rather famous basket before that was so well known that I was recognised from behind. People used to scream at Birken just because of my basket. But apparently her partner, the French filmmaker Jacques Dwyon, is not such a big fan. Funnily enough, Jacques thought that it was really diminishing for people to notice things that you have and to be known for any gimmick like that. And so Jacques did a reverse in his car, he squashed my basket. I picked up the things scattered from right or left. I put them all in a plastic bag and my agenda with things falling out of it because I had to go to London. Jane and her plastic bag full of keys, money, makeup and an agenda head to the airport for her flight to the UK. And by the way, if you didn't know, an agenda is just a posh leather bound notebook. Got into the airplane was upgraded as usual by F-Hars because they recognised me to a rather chic seat next door to a rather chic man. And all my stuff fell around in an embarrassing way and he said you should have pockets made in that agenda. And I said well what can you do? Hermes don't make it with pockets. He said I am Mr Hermes. So I said oh. Jane's right to be impressed. The sheet Monsieur is actually Hermes then chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas. What are the chances? He said if you give it to me, I'll put pockets in it. And I said well grand that's wonderful. I said when did you make a bag that's bigger than the Kelly? Twice as big. To interrupt again, the Kelly bag was named after another actress Grace Kelly. You became the princess of Monaco. She famously hid her pregnancy from the paparazzi by covering her bump with an Hermes bag which later became known as the Kelly. Back to Jane on the plane with Monsieur Dumas. So there was a sort of sick bag. I drew on a sick bag and I said well it's sort of like this. I decided I wanted it sort of more open than shot. So he said I'll make you one. And I got a call a few weeks later to say would I like to come and have a look. And it was all in cardboard. It was lovely in cardboard. And he said what leather would you like and everything. So I picked a black leather of some sort as soft as I could. And then he said I'll give it to you. So I said well wow. And this is what the finished bag looked like. A rectangular holdle with a flap top, two rolled handles, four studs on the base and a lock closure. Best of all for Jane, a mother of three young children. It could hold a lot of stuff. Monsieur Dumas was also delighted. I thought it was so splendid. And he said can we call this after you? We'll call it Leberkin. Oh it's so flattered. I said of course you can. How wonderful. Didn't think of being about it. Jane took the bag and reportedly forgot about the encounter. She was concentrating on a singing career. Remember the song Jyteem Wannonplu with Serge Gansba? Jyteem. Jyteem. Who used to? Well that's her. I don't know what you might think. I'm quite cut off. I don't look at magazines. I'm not in-dending very much. And somebody said you know that your bag is going for a fortune. Hermes. And it's the most well-known bag. And then when I went to sing in America, someone said oh Birkin like the bag. "How's all the bag is nothing to sing?" And then what could you say? Sometimes one has a good idea. But according to industry experts, the Birkin hadn't been an immediate hit. Sales only took off in the late 1990s at the dawn of the luxury it bag era. And of course there was that cameo role in the HBO TV drama Sex in the City. Here's Kim Kertrell's character Samantha trying to buy one in 2001. It's 4,000. I know. And there's a waiting list. I assumed. It's been 5 years. For a bag? It's not a bag. It's a Birkin. Interest soared. Soon the bag was turning up in pop culture from TV episodes of The Gilmore Girls to the Hollywood film The Proposal. Rapids like Jay-Z, Drake, Cardi B and others even sang about it. It's become the quintessential accessory that celebrities have bought in their droves. Kim Kardashian, as a gym bag, Kate Moss, as a nappy bag. And apparently Victoria Beckham is rumored to own around a hundred of them. So that would be costing her around two million dollars. Along with success came more exclusive models. Different sizes, colors and materials, including alligator, lizard and ostrich skins. Some studied with diamonds. And while the price tag ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than 200,000 for the limited versions, it didn't stop a waiting list from growing. But the bags weren't without controversy. In 2015, Jane asked for her name to be removed from a crocodile skin model. Here's NBC News. Jane Birkin is demanding this particular bag be renamed a mid-concerned about how the crocodiles are treated. Hermes responded with a statement. An investigation is underway. Any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned. The company ultimately resolved the problem, calling it an isolated irregularity. And the Birkin name stayed. Meanwhile, Jane was making good use of her bag, covering it in slogans and stickers from the corsets she supported, as well as adding keyrings and charms. It's very, very heavy. What it's very useful for is handing them over to charities. If you can prove that you've used it and with me really looks as if they were used, there's a kick them about a bit. And then you can sell them off on in today. I've sold about three or four. And after nine years of use, Jane auctioned the original model to raise money for a French AIDS charity. Bought by a private collector, it came back under the hammer in 2025, two years after Jane's death, which is where our story began, with the sale of the first Birkin bag in Paris. Any guesses what it went for? This is the moment the bidding stopped. At 7 million euros. As you say, I've had eyes. The price, which includes taxis, works out at around ten million dollars. The auction lasted around half an hour, with the final price for an excess of what was predicted. Yes, ten million dollars. For a battered, forty-year-old handbag. During her lifetime, Jane seemed reconciled to the fame it had brought. I think I'd done rather well, I'd have admised in that they gave my name on the bag that I drew, true. But on the other hand, the Americans to say Birkin, like the bag, yes, like the bag. Jane Berkin died in 2023 at the age of 76. She left a legacy of more than 70 films, several hit songs and a very fashionable handbag. Witness history was produced and presented by me Jane Wilkinson using BBC Archive. And if you want more high fashion from the Witness History Catwalk collection, look out for Mary Quant and the miniskirt, the man who brought fashion to the Soviets and Eve Saint Laurent in Morocco. Then tell your friends and remember hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Thanks loads and bye for now. Witnesses have spoken of a wall of water that swept coastlines in Sri Lanka, Indonesia. Here from the people who were there. They heard me praying while he was shooting and he just stopped. They said, "I'm not going to. I'm going to leave you get to tell the story." Knowing that you have a spy and that you're following a spy, it doesn't get any cooler than that. Witness history brings you first-hand accounts. Merkel Kitsapen says, "I'm going and Tusk says I'm locking the door. Nobody's leaving. You're reaching a compromise or you're not leaving this room." 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