The Birkin or the Kelly: Round for round on the eponymous Hermes bags

 

Grace Kelly and her Kelly bag

The Kelly and the Birkin: two classic Hermès bags, named for two timeless beauties. Both inspired by an equestrian predecessor at the house, the Haut à Courroies (first conceived in 1892 and designed for carrying riding equipment), the silhouettes have become status symbols in accessory form. The Kelly got its new name in 1977, after it was catapulted to fame by movie star Grace Kelly when she was photographed clutching the bag – which she was introduced to on the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief – for an outing in 1956.

Arguably the better known of the two, the Birkin shares its name with the inimitable film star Jane Birkin. The story of its origin was recounted by the muse during a 2012 interview, in which she told how she found herself sitting next to Jean-Louis Dumas, CEO of Hermès at the time, on an Air France flight from Paris to London in the ’80s. When the contents of her bag spilled in Dumas’s view, he reportedly remarked, “You should have one with pockets,” to which she replied: “The day Hermès makes one with pockets I will have that.” Dumas replied simply, “But I am Hermès, and I will put pockets in for you.” Birkin is said to have sketched a prototype on a plane sick bag – a cross between the Kelly and her partner Serge Gainsbourg’s suitcase – and lent her surname in exchange for an early 1984 model of the now iconic handbag. 

Jane Birkin and her Birkin bag

A staple for modern A-listers, the Birkin has overtaken the Kelly in popularity (some stars, including Victoria Beckham and Beyoncé, own various versions of both). It’s available to mere mortals too, assuming they aren’t daunted by the price tag – which can start from £7,000 for the most basic, smallest size, or £9,500 for the larger. That’s before taking into account the myriad colourways, artist collaborations and exotic skin finishes that make an exclusive bag more exclusive still. The current top Birkin listing on Vestiaire Collective is a black leather style, in its original box, with “extremely rare rose gold hardware”. Yours for £20,000 plus authentication fees.

There’s a reason the bags are so expensive. Hermès is a house that prides itself on craftsmanship and artisanal practice, so much so that any worker must complete two years of training before making a Birkin. The laborious, solo process takes 12 to 18 hours in a workshop, using the combination of traditional hand and refined needle work that has been perfected since the bag’s inception.

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