Birkin bag: creating fashion’s iconic accessory

Summary

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Witness History – "Birkin bag: creating fashion’s iconic accessory"

Host: Jane Wilkinson (BBC World Service)
Date: July 16, 2026
Duration: ~9 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Witness History" spotlights the creation and enduring cultural impact of the Hermès Birkin bag—an accessory that transcended its functional origins to become a global status symbol. Through evocative archival audio and first-person testimony from Jane Birkin herself, the story unfolds: from an accidental design collaboration in the early 1980s to the bag’s multi-million-dollar auction and pop-culture immortality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Chance Encounter That Sparked a Legend

• Jane Birkin’s Iconic "Basket" Look

  • [01:47] Jane Birkin recalls being instantly recognizable for her woven basket rather than a conventional handbag:

    "Because I had a rather famous basket before that was so well known that I was recognized from behind. People used to scream at Birkin just because of my basket." – Jane Birkin ([01:47])

• A Basket’s Demise and Serendipity

  • Birkin’s then-partner, filmmaker Jacques Doyon, accidentally crushes her basket with a car, leading Jane to improvise with a plastic bag.
  • [02:01] She describes the mishap:

    “…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…” – Jane Birkin ([02:01])

• The Meeting on an Air France Flight

  • [02:41] On a flight to London, Jane is upgraded and seats next to a "chic man." Her belongings spill everywhere. He suggests better pockets, and she laments that Hermès doesn’t make such a bag—unaware he is Jean-Louis Dumas, Hermès CEO.

    "He said, you should have pockets made in that agenda. And I said, well, what can you do? Hermès don't make it with pockets. He said, I am Monsieur Hermès." – Jane Birkin ([02:41])

• Sketching the Birkin Bag on a Sick Bag

  • Birkin sketches her ideal handbag on the back of an airsickness bag; Dumas pledges to make one for her.
  • [03:41]

    "So there was a sort of sick bag. I drew on the sick bag and I said, well, sort of like this. I decided I wanted it sort of more open than shut. So he said, I'll make you one." – Jane Birkin ([03:41])

Birth and Early Days of the Birkin Bag

• The Design’s Key Features

  • [04:09] A large, rectangular holdall with a flap top, two rolled handles, studs, lock, and—crucially—space for everything a mother on-the-go would need.

• Naming and Initial Reception

  • [04:29] Dumas is so pleased, he asks to name the bag after Birkin:

    "They thought it was so splendid. And he said, can we call this after you and we'll call it Le Birkin? I was so flattered. I said, of course you can." – Jane Birkin ([04:29])

  • Birkin herself is nonchalant, focusing on her music career.

  • [05:00]

    "Contrary to what you might think, I'm quite cut off. I don't look at magazines. I'm not into anything very much..." – Jane Birkin ([05:00])

Rise to Icon Status

• Slow Start, Sudden Boom

  • [05:23] The Birkin wasn’t initially a runaway success—its explosive popularity arrived with the late 1990s 'It Bag' era.

• Pop Culture Touchstone

  • [05:45] A famous scene from "Sex and the City" crystallized the Birkin’s desirability:

    Samantha: "It's $4,000."
    Store staff: "And there's a waiting list, I assume."
    Samantha: "Five years for a bag. It's not a bag. It's a Birkin." ([05:45])

  • Featured in "Gilmore Girls," "The Proposal," and referenced by artists like Jay Z and Cardi B.

• Celebrity Obsession and Economical Extravagance

  • Owned and used by the likes of Kim Kardashian (as a gym bag), Kate Moss (as a nappy bag), and Victoria Beckham (rumored to own 100—approx. $2 million worth).

  • [06:12]

    "Blue face Hummus in my Birkin. With the rubber band making moves faster than the hour and the minute hand." – News Reporter ([06:12])

Exclusivity, Variations, and Controversy

• Skyrocketing Price & Wait List

  • [06:34] Birkin bags now come in various skins (alligator, ostrich, lizard), with prices ranging from thousands to over $200,000, yet still there is a years-long waiting list.

• Ethical Concerns and the "Crocodile Scandal"

  • [07:06] In 2015, Birkin asks her name be removed from a crocodile-skin version amid animal welfare concerns.

    "Jane Birkin is demanding this particular bag be renamed amid concerns about how the crocodiles are treated." – NBC News ([07:06])

  • Hermès investigates and ultimately resolves the matter, and the Birkin name remains.

• Personalization & Charitable Use

  • Birkin herself did not baby her bags—she covered them in stickers, slogans, and used them until worn, then auctioned several for charity.
  • [07:38]

    "It's very, very heavy…What it's very useful for is handing them over for charities. If you can prove that you've used it. And with me it really looks as if they've been used. I kick them about a bit, and then you can sell them off on Internet. I've sold about three or four." – Jane Birkin ([07:38])

The Million-Euro Auction & Lasting Legacy

• Historic Sale

  • [08:17] In 2025, after Jane Birkin’s passing, her original Birkin is auctioned for 7 million euros (roughly $10 million).

    "The price, which includes taxes, works out at around $10 million. The auction lasted around half an hour, with the final price far in excess of what was predicted." – Auctioneer ([08:22])

• Birkin’s Reflections

  • [08:42]

    "I think I've done rather well out of Hermès in that they gave my name on the bag that I drew. True. But on the other hand, for the Americans to say Birkin, like the bag. Yes, like the bag." – Jane Birkin ([08:42])

• A Multifaceted Legacy

  • Birkin passed away in 2023, leaving over 70 films, hit songs, and a handbag forever linked to her name.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "You should have pockets made in that agenda. And I said, well, what can you do? Hermès don't make it with pockets. He said, I am Monsieur Hermès." – Jane Birkin ([02:41])
• “There was a sort of sick bag. I drew on the sick bag… he said, I'll make you one.” – Jane Birkin ([03:41])
• “Can we call this after you and we'll call it Le Birkin? I was so flattered. I said, of course you can.” – Jane Birkin ([04:29])
• “For the Americans to say Birkin, like the bag. Yes, like the bag.” – Jane Birkin ([08:42])
• Auction climax: “The bidding stopped at 7 million euros.” – Auctioneer ([08:17])

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Timeline of Important Segments

• [00:44-01:07]: Paris auction opening – the original Birkin up for bid
• [01:47-02:26]: Jane’s style and the demise of her iconic basket
• [02:41-03:21]: The fateful Air France meeting with Hermès CEO
• [03:41-04:09]: The sick bag sketch and bag creation
• [04:29-05:23]: Naming the bag, Jane’s initial detachment
• [05:45-06:34]: Pop culture and celebrities cement the Birkin’s status
• [07:06-07:19]: Animal welfare controversy
• [07:38-07:53]: Jane on using, personalizing, and auctioning her Birkins
• [08:17-08:32]: Record-setting auction result
• [08:42-08:57]: Jane reflects on her unique legacy

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Conclusion

From its accidental conception on an airplane to becoming a byword for luxury and aspiration, the Birkin bag’s story is as much about celebrity culture and commerce as it is about fashion design. Jane Birkin’s effortless style and laid-back persona contrast with the bag’s exclusive mystique—an irony the actress herself acknowledges with characteristic humility. Today, the Birkin is more than a bag: it’s an artifact of cultural history, forever associated with the woman who inspired it.

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Transcript

[Auctioneer]

Foreign.

[Jane Wilkinson]

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 nine minutes through the eyes of one key witness and lots of truly amazing news archive.

[Jane Birkin]

So.

[Jane Wilkinson]

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.

[Jane Birkin]

The Birkin bag. Really, when I'm tooling around town with that bag, I'll know I made it.

[Jane Wilkinson]

But if you want the original, you'll need very deep pockets. A as the BBC hinted at, in 2025, how would you like to own

[Auction Host]

a piece of fashion history? Well, you're in luck because Sotheby's is expected to begin auctioning off the original version of the iconic Hermes Birkin bag in Paris in just a few minutes.

[Auctioneer Announcer]

We now come to the star lot of this sale, Lot 8, which is the original Birkin created in 1985 for Jane Birkin at 1 million euro. We start the bidding 1 million 111-1213.

[Jane Wilkinson]

For now, let's leave that Paris auction room as the bids begin and explore the legend of the handbag's history. It's the early 1980s and the British actress and model Jane Birkin 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.

[Jane Birkin]

Because I had a rather famous basket before that was so well known that I was recognized from behind. People used to scream at Birkin just because of my basket.

[Jane Wilkinson]

But apparently her partner, the French filmmaker Jacques Doyon, is not such a big fan.

[Jane Birkin]

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 Wilkinson]

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 aeroplane,

[Jane Birkin]

was upgraded as usual by Air France because they recognized 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 Monsieur Hermes.

[Jane Wilkinson]

So I said, oh, Jane's right to be impressed. The chic monsieur is actually Hermes. Then chief executive Jean Louis Dumas. What are the chances?

[Jane Birkin]

He said, if you give it to me, I'll put pockets in it. And I said, well, Gran, that's wonderful. I said, why did you make a bag that's bigger than the Kelly? Twice as big.

[Jane Wilkinson]

To interrupt again. The Kelly bag was named after another actress, Grace Kelly, who 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 de.

[Jane Birkin]

So there was a sort of sick bag. I drew on the sick bag and I said, well, sort of like this. I decided I wanted it sort of more open than shut. 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 black leather of some sort, as soft as I could. And then he. He said, I'll give it to you. So I said, well, wow.

[Jane Wilkinson]

And this is what the finished bag looked like. A rectangular holdall with a flap top, two roll 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.

[Jane Birkin]

They thought it was so splendid. And he said, can we call this after you and we'll call it Le Birkin? I was so flattered. I said, of course you can. How wonderful. Didn't think a thing about it.

[Jane Wilkinson]

Jane took the bag and reportedly forgot about the encounter. She was concentrating on a singing career. Remember the song Je Tait Moi Non plus with Serge Gainsbourg? Well, that's her.

[Jane Birkin]

Contrary to what you might think, I'm quite cut off. I don't look at magazines. I'm not into anything very much. And somebody said, you know that your bag is going for a fortune at 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 has the bag. He's not going to sing. And then what could you say sometimes one has a good idea.

[Jane Wilkinson]

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 and the City. Here's Kim Cattrall's character, Samantha, trying to buy one in 2001.

[Kim Cattrall (as Samantha)]

It's $4,000.

[Jane Birkin]

I know.

[Kim Cattrall (as Samantha)]

And there's a waiting list, I assume. Five years for a bag. It's not a bag. It's a Birkin.

[Jane Wilkinson]

Interest soared. Soon, the bag was turning up in pop culture, from TV episodes of the Gilmore Girls to the Hollywood film the Proposal. Rappers like Jay Z, Drake, Cardi B. And others even sang about it.

[News Reporter]

Blue face Hummus in my Birkin. With the rubber band making moves faster than the hour and the minute hand,

[Narrator]

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 100 of them. So that would be costing her around $2 million.

[Jane Wilkinson]

Along with success came more exclusive models, different sizes, colors, and materials, including alligator, lizard and ostrich skins, some studded 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.

[News Reporter]

Jane Birkin is demanding this particular bag be renamed amid concerns about how the crocodiles are treated. Hermes responded with a statement. An investigation is underway. Any breach of rules will be rectified and sanctioned.

[Jane Wilkinson]

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 causes she supported, as well as adding keyrings and charms.

[Jane Birkin]

It's very, very heavy. What it's very useful for is handing them over for charities. If you can prove that you've used it. And with me, it really looks as if they've been used. I kick them about a bit, and then you can sell them off on Internet. I've sold about three or four.

[Jane Wilkinson]

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?

[Auctioneer]

This is the moment the bidding stopped

[Auctioneer Announcer]

at 7 million euros.

[Auctioneer]

The price, which includes taxes, works out at around $10 million. The auction lasted around half an hour, with the final price far in excess of what was predicted.

[Jane Wilkinson]

Yes, $10 million for a battered 40 year old handbag. During her lifetime, Jane seemed reconciled to the fame it had brought.

[Jane Birkin]

I think I've done rather well out of Hermes in that they gave my name on the bag that I drew. True. But on the other hand, for the Americans to say Birkin, like the bag. Yes, like the bag.

[Jane Wilkinson]

Jane Birkin died in 2023 at the age of 60 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 Yves Saint Laurent in Morocco. Then tell your friends and remember, hit. Subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Thanks loads and bye for now.

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[Jane Birkin]

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[Witness History Narrator]

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[Witness History Narrator]

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