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Jane Addiction

Fashion People

Fri Oct 03 2025

Summary

Fashion People – "Jane Addiction"

Host: Lauren Sherman
Guest: Marissa Meltzer, Author of It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin
Date: October 3, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the legacy of Jane Birkin, examining her impact as a style icon, her cross-cultural persona, and her enduring influence on fashion, culture, and personal identity. Author and journalist Marissa Meltzer joins Lauren Sherman to discuss her recent biography of Birkin and what it means to build and maintain an "effortless" legacy in fashion—and why Birkin’s story transcends style manuals and influencer culture. Listeners get an inside look at Birkin’s life, her relationship with French and British societies, and her surprisingly understated views on her own fame.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Jane Birkin?

[08:42] Marissa Meltzer:

The idea for the biography sparked after Birkin’s death but was also a perfect convergence for Meltzer’s interests: fashion, music, film, and French culture.
Meltzer chose to write a comprehensive biography, moving beyond the "how to get French girl style" genre.
Quote: “There’s always a certain point where I have to get out of my own way. And for this book, it was focusing on her life...” ([09:55], Meltzer)

[11:25] Lauren Sherman:

Praises Meltzer for her focus and restraint, saying the book avoids overwhelming the reader with trivia (“kill your darlings” in journalism).

2. Birkin’s Upbringing & Cross-Cultural Identity

[16:07] Marissa Meltzer:

Discusses Birkin’s upper-middle-class British roots, her “stiff upper lip” upbringing, and how the contrast with French culture made her transition unique.
Birkin’s move to France in 1968 placed her at the center of two major cultural moments: the British “youthquake” and the louche Parisian 1970s nightlife.
Quote: “She sort of fully embodied the swinging 60s youthquake ... then fully embodied sort of the louche nightclub, ... 1970s Yves Saint Laurent Paris.” ([17:46], Meltzer)

[19:39] Meltzer:

Discusses the insular nature of both British and French social circles, noting that Birkin’s acceptance in France was unusual (“Paris is so the center ... it can be really hard to break into.”)

3. The "Style Icon" Phenomenon

[25:34] Lauren Sherman:

Opens a discussion of what constitutes personal style and the origins of Birkin’s “look.”
[26:04] Marissa Meltzer:
- Attributes Birkin’s style to her British background, theatrical family, and love of authentic, unforced dressing (e.g., her market basket, “espadrilles bought on vacation”).
- Birkin’s apparel choices were often organic, stemming from individual taste rather than fashion mandates.

[28:55] Lauren Sherman:

Considers other style icons: Jean Seberg, Catherine Deneuve, Brigitte Bardot, and questions inclusivity in the canon of “style icons.”

[29:35] Meltzer:

Points out the “whitewashed” aspect of historical style iconography and discusses the possibility of Rihanna as a modern, more diverse successor.

4. The Birkin Bag: Myth & Reality

[32:41] Marissa Meltzer:

Birkin was not a calculated capitalist—she did not profit significantly from the Birkin bag’s massive commercial success.
She “wanted things on her own, very specific terms” and eschewed the typical path of celebrity product licensing or self-branding.

[35:46] Lauren Sherman & Meltzer:

Discussion of the Birkin’s rollercoaster status in the resale market and how the “Kelly” and “Birkin” cycles represent shifting values.
Notable Moment: Meltzer owns a vintage Kelly, dreams of a Birkin, and reflects on seeing Birkin’s actual bag at auction.
Quote: “It must be odd to have the kind of most famous thing about you and your name belong to something else.” ([38:13], Meltzer)

5. Birkin’s Approach to Fame and Contentment

[39:33] Lauren Sherman & Meltzer:

Birkin was content with “enough”—she valued work-life balance, spent time with her family, and didn’t strive for relentless fame.
Meltzer references Birkin’s diaries for a behind-the-scenes look at a life spent not only working, but living.
Quote: “She valued work, life, balance, she cooked, she had a nice but not overly fancy country house...she worked, but...she seemed to spend plenty of time with her kids...” ([40:00], Meltzer)

[41:43] Meltzer:

Birkin’s measured ambitions are viewed as almost alien in today’s hyper-capitalist, hyper-visible society.
Her “normalcy” and indifference to fame are precisely what feels so aspirational now.

6. The Modern Absence of "Effortlessness"

[42:43] Lauren Sherman:

Discusses how constant connectivity, branding, and social curation have eroded the concept of authentic cool—Birkin’s type is rare today.
Quote: “They always say the end of cool and no one's cool anymore. And I think that's kind of true.” ([43:41], Sherman)

[43:52] Meltzer:

Birkin’s complexity, occasional mistakes, and unmanicured persona made her relatable. Today’s celebrities are over-styled and curated by teams.

7. Style Takeaways—What Birkin Inspires Us to Buy

[47:09] Lauren Sherman:

Asks Meltzer if researching Birkin led her to make any fashion purchases.
[47:22] Marissa Meltzer:
- Jokes about resisting Birkin’s iconic bangs.
- Bought “a healthy amount of Alaia” and a beaded Alberta Ferretti skirt reminiscent of Birkin’s era.
- Respects Birkin’s approach to owning a few well-chosen pieces.

[48:57] Podcast Host:

Praises the book for enriching the reader’s life, with details that prompt readers to actually Google Birkin’s iconic looks.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“There’s always a certain point where I have to get out of my own way. And for this book, it was focusing on her life...” – Marissa Meltzer [09:55]
“She sort of fully embodied the swinging 60s youthquake ... then fully embodied sort of the louche nightclub, ... 1970s Yves Saint Laurent Paris.” – Marissa Meltzer [17:46]
“It must be odd to have the kind of most famous thing about you and your name belong to something else.” – Marissa Meltzer [38:13]
“She valued work, life, balance ...she seemed to spend plenty of time with her kids...” – Marissa Meltzer [40:00]
“They always say the end of cool and no ones cool anymore. And I think that's kind of true.” – Lauren Sherman [43:41]

Timestamps for Important Segments

08:42 – Why write a Jane Birkin biography?
16:07 – Birkin’s British roots & cultural adaptation to France
25:34 – The origins of Birkin’s personal style
28:55 – The style icon canon & diversity
32:41 – The economics and myth of the Birkin bag
39:33 – Birkin’s relationship with fame and contentment
42:43 – The erosion of effortlessness and "cool"
47:09 – What research inspired Meltzer to buy for herself?

Conclusion

Lauren Sherman and Marissa Meltzer deliver a vibrant, thoughtful conversation on Jane Birkin’s multilayered legacy—from the construction of an icon to what it means to live a balanced, authentic life in a world that increasingly commodifies selfhood. The episode blends cultural history, gossip, and style advice, echoing Birkin’s enduring appeal and the impact of genuine, unmanicured individuality.

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Transcript

Lauren Sherman (0:00)

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Podcast Host (Fashion People) (2:11)

Hello and welcome to Fashion People.

Lauren Sherman (2:13)

I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion.

Podcast Host (Fashion People) (2:15)

And Beauty Memo Line Sheet, and today.

Lauren Sherman (2:18)

With me on the show is the one and only Marissa Meltzer, author of It Girl the Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin.

Marissa Meltzer (2:24)

We discuss the book, the Business of.

Marissa Meltzer (8:42)

Well, I think the book was not to sound like an ambulance chaser, but the idea did come after her death. And you know, as. As sometimes these things happen in book publishing and someone actually my editor at their time suggested it, but I don't think she really understood how much she was at kind of the nexus of all these nerdy interests of mine. I love fashion, of course, but also, you know, have always been really into film and really discovered her through music in college. And then I also, you know, I speak French. I'm a crazy Francophile. I, you know, so that sort of aspect was really interesting to me. So she was kind of in the middle of all of these nerdy interests. And I do think that you've written a book. Like, it's. The fun of it is you get, you know, sort of like a blank page in order to go as deep as you want to in a subject. But if you don't really, if you're not really interested in it, it's. That could be drudgery. So this book was just a complete pleasure, at least in like the research phase and stuff. Writing is always its own unique hell. But. But yeah, I, you know, there were moments when I thought. When I had a little more about kind of the selling of the French girl and. And sort of French girl style and its origins and the kind of. Like, at one point I listed every sort of French girl style book that I could find on Amazon and there were like 30. But it just felt like there's. For me, for a book, there's always a certain point where I have to get out of my own way. And for this book, it was focusing on her life, which also meant there were, you know, long digressions about Serge Gainsbourg or some of her kids that I cut out. Because my issue with a lot of books is that there's two, you know, Just because you have the information as a writer doesn't mean you need to share it. You know, maybe that's what your sub stack is for. Maybe that's what interviews are for. But, you know, there's a lot of things people do to kind of impede the, the narrative. And I think, you know, smart writers understand how to take that kind of like surgical precision in editors and keep the focus where it needs to be. I, you know, I think the book has a lot of cultural context, but I also think that it doesn't kind of. You're not ODing on it. You're not like, wait, what were we talking about?

Marissa Meltzer (19:39)

Yeah. Like, I don't think there was probably a McDonald's, for example, in France at that point or sort of this, you know, now you go to Europe, but, you know, really Paris in particular, there's, you know, five guys burgers. There's, you know, there's just so much familiarity in kind of international chains. And. Yeah, it really wasn't the case then. It really was not the case when I was there in college in the late 90s either. So, yeah, that's absolutely changed. I think, you know, it's hard because France and Paris in particular, I think, is a hard culture to break into because people. Because, like, Paris is so the center of the country, so that it's not just, you know, you're not going to move away for different industries. They're all based there, all the great universities. Universities are there. So you can really be born there and make friends in grade school and just have those people in your life for the rest of your life. It's not, you know, people aren't moving around for jobs, for example, the same way they are in the US because, you know, things are located in different places and. Yeah, so I think it can be really hard to break into. You know, most of my French friends are either maybe half American or they're married to a foreigner or, you know, they're Americans who move there or, you know, or whatever. There's something about them that's sort of other and outsider y. And yeah, Birkin really got accepted in. I think that part of it was that she started dating Serge Gansborg right away, and he is kind of, you know, the. One of the most famous people in the country. He was sort of like, there. I don't. I always say he's like a combination of like, Bruce Springsteen and Phil Spector and like Barbara Streisand, like this kind of Bob Dylan, this sort of like, troubadour that, you know, represents kind of the national identity. And so she was with him a long time. That probably helped kind of make her accept. But I also think she just had this kind of, like, willingness to just go full French and embrace it. But also she wasn't trying hard because she still had this. This heavy accent. She wasn't pretending to be this kind of perfect French woman. You see often in Paris these expats who are trying to be better at being Parisian than native Parisians. And it's kind of. I get it, but it's kind of ridiculous.

Marissa Meltzer (26:04)

I think that it's a combination. She definitely had that kind of British jumble thing where, you know, they were going to thrift stores and had this kind of, like, eccentric costumes, costumey element that, you know, the, the. The continent certainly didn't have. You know, there was. France was behind in that, you know, young women kind of dress like their mothers. Like, you know, they're wearing scarves and kind of, you know, smart shoes and smart outfits. And Britain, I think the rebellion kind of like in the US Came a little bit before it did to France. And so, yeah, it's that kind of like, long history of bohemians. Like, you know, the way that the sort of Bloomsbury set was. Was, you know, dressing up and stuff. So there was that element. And she was also from a theatrical family, so they were putting on shows all the time. So you had this. This probably element of, like, costuming yourself. And then, you know, as a teenager and into her early 20s, I think she was first just kind of trying to look cool and fit in and. And have be seen as attractive and interesting to guys and to cool girls. And she always thought she just sort of dressed like Gene Shrimpton or something like that. But I think eventually she sort of, you know, she had that inimitable thing where you just make it yourself. Like, that's why you can watch a hundred, you know, videos of how to dress like Jane Birkin. But it's pretty hard to nail it. I think that it was. She was wearing stuff that was authentic to her, things that she had picked up on. You know, her basket bag came from a market that was near the West End where she was, you know, in plays. And the, you know, espadrilles were things that she bought on vacation. And, you know, she liked her White T shirts a certain way with, like, the collar kind of, like, pulled and messed up. And so I think she just stuck to things that felt like her. And then, you know, as she moved and became French and got older, she also kind of picked and choose which designer she wore. She was friends with Saint Laurent, so she wore a lot of Saint Laurent. She. She was never a Chanel girl. She loved Paco Rabanne and wore that. She was kind of, you know, she kind of knew her look.

Marissa Meltzer (35:55)

I do. I have a really, I have like a 1950s color. But I would like, I love it. But yeah, I would like a Birkin that's also like the Kelly is great but it's quite, it's old and I, if I wore it every day, it would just keep falling apart. I've had it refurbished many times. So like I would love a Birkin that I could just beat up a little bit or just you know, wear every day. Yeah, I mean it's, it was so fascinating to me to think deeply about the Birkin partly cause she didn't seem to think about the Birkin bag all that much. You know, for most people like being on a plane and meeting the, you know, whatever he's called, like chairman or chief, you know, executive at Hermes. And having them make a bag for you would be like the biggest day of your life. And it was just something that just happened to her and, and you know, the bag grew very organically and steadily. It wasn't this kind of launched it bag the way that, you know, marketing happens now. And I think it's a bag that just symbolizes that people have made it, you know, that they have the money or the access or whatever to own one. And, you know, I thought about her bags and that original one so much. And then it, you know, after I was done, just after I was done writing it went for auction. So it was strange to be sort of thinking about something so much and then to actually see it in person. It was like, remember when the Goldfinch came out and that painting happened to be, I think, at the Frick in New York? And so it's weird to sort of envision something and see photos of it and then to actually, you know, it was kind of ghostly or something like that. And then to be in the room of the auction was fascinating because you also just see even though they brought in a lot of storytelling around Jane Birkin and the Birkin, you know, people are there because of Burke and Mania and Hermes and the resale market and because, you know, the Kardashians own a million of them. Like, I don't believe there was anyone really from Hermes. There was no one from Jane Birkin's family. You know, that it's not their narrative anymore. I mean, at least in the auction was not in Hermes narrative. So I think, you know, you kind of see how divorced it is from her, for better or worse. I think it must be odd to have the kind of most famous thing about you and your name belong to something else.

Marissa Meltzer (43:52)

Yeah. Contentment. Having. Yeah. Being okay with sort of enough. And also, I think the book leaves a lot of openness. Like, you can. There's things about her that are kind of annoying. Like, you can find her sort of manic pixie dream girlish and sort of cloying if you wanted to. And she certainly had kind of, you know, relationships with people who are complicated and, you know, enmeshed in. In scandal and the French Me Too movement. She wasn't, you know, this kind of perfect paragon of empowerment or feminism or anything. But I think that's also part of why she was cool. She was a real person who was complicated and made bad decisions and looked cool. But also sometimes, you know, showed up in public looking like she just woke up and, you know, was, like, walking her dog just like anyone else. And, yeah, we just don't have that. Things are so manicured I mean, I think now I always think about how, you know, Hollywood, like, junkets and film premieres have become this total costume party. It's like my bete noir, like, we're wicked. So I wear pink and you wear green. Or, like, everyone at Frankenstein is wearing brown. Or, you know, everyone Wednesday is wearing these kind of goth outfits. And it's gone from wearing what you want to, like, getting dressed by a designer, to now, like, you have to get dressed by the designer here, you know, have a relationship with, and they have to make something custom in the theme of Frankenstein. Like, it's just. It's so kind of embarrassing. I understand all the economic and fame reasons behind it, but she is the opposite of that. You know, you see her at can sometimes wearing jean, like jeans and a La Mer shirt and Converse, and sometimes dressed up in like a one shoulder Azaro or something. It just seems like she was just looking and acting the way that she wanted, the way that many of us do, where sometimes you have something cute to wear and you feel like dressing up and you look cute, and sometimes you're like, I. The only way I'm gonna do this is if I don't have to make an effort. And I think that's so relatable. And I think that's also why she has this kind of coolness. Like, it wasn't brokered, it wasn't styled, it wasn't perfected, it wasn't commercialized in the way that we have now, which, you know, I think it's probably only get worse. I keep thinking it can't get worse, but it's just so whatever the opposite of effortless is, you know?