Original Hermès bag made for Jane Birkin sells for $15.3million in Paris

A handbag created for the English singer and actress Jane Birkin by the French luxury label Hermès has become the ultimate status symbol after selling for €8.6m ($15.3 million) at auction in Paris.

A 10-minute bidding war at Sotheby’s, reportedly involving newlywed Lauren Sanchez Bezos, started at €1 million and ended with a private collector from Japan placing the winning bid by phone.

Even with the notoriously long waiting lists for Hermès’ Birkin handbags, carried by various Kardashians, Victoria Beckham and Australian publicist Roxy Jacenko, $15.3 million is a big price to pay for jumping the queue.

Reports on entry-level prices for Birkin bags vary from $15,000 to $30,000, depending on availability, size and the leather used.

It’s the second time Birkin, who died in 2023, has caused a global sensation. In 1969, the breathy and suggestive song Je T’Aime… Moi Non-Plus, (I Love You… Me Neither), recorded with her then partner Serge Gainsbourg, was denounced by a Vatican newspaper and forbidden in Italy.

Her original Birkin bag trails Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from the 1939 movie The Wizard Oz, which in December fetched $US32.5 million ($49.3 million) at auction in Dallas, as the second most valuable fashion item ever sold. Last month a hat that had belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte was auctioned for the bargain price of €355,600.

The big difference is that you don’t see people today queueing to buy ruby slippers or bicorne hats.

The Birkin bag has a mythology rivalling its maker, the French luxury goods company Hermès, founded in 1837 and valued at €243.65 billion in April. It was created in 1984, after Birkin found herself upgraded on an Air France flight to a seat beside Jean-Louis Dumas, chief executive and artistic director of his family’s brand Hermès.

After hearing how Birkin’s then partner, filmmaker Jacques Doillon, had deliberately run over her signature wicker basket in his car, Dumas designed a practical, streamlined bag for the working mother.