(FILES) (COMBO) This mix of images created on July 09, 2025 exhibits the “Birkin” bag by Hermes which belonged to British-French actress and singer Jane Birkin on the Sotheby’s public sale home in Paris on July 2, 2025 and which will probably be auctioned by Sotheby’s as a part of the Trend Icons public sale sale. (R) French actress and singer Jane Birkin arrive on the Elysee Palace the place she is acquired by the President of the Republic Francois Mitterrand earlier than the forty third Cannes Movie Competition, on Might 9, 1990. | Photograph by ALAIN JOCARD and Gilles LEIMDORFER / AFP
PARIS, France — The primary-ever Birkin bag designed by French luxurious model Hermes for movie star Jane Birkin bought for 8.58 million euros ($10 million) at a Sotheby’s public sale in Paris on Thursday, smashing earlier value data for a purse.
The trendy design traditional, owned by a Paris-based purse collector, sparked a phone bidding struggle as much as seven million euros, with the ultimate sale value set at 8.58 million with fee and costs, the Sotheby’s web site confirmed.
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“After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at 1 million euros — prompting a puff from the room,” Sotheby’s stated in an announcement.
The ultimate purchaser, who eclipsed eight different rivals, was a “personal collector from Japan”, the public sale home added, with out giving additional particulars.
The earlier document value for a purse at public sale was set by a diamond-encrusted crocodile pores and skin Hermes Kelly 28, which fetched $513,000 in 2021 at Christie’s in Hong Kong.
Sotheby’s had suggested that the Birkin prototype was anticipated to beat that degree throughout its sale.
However the staggering price ticket for a well-worn merchandise is in line with the style world’s current flashy aesthetics.
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After years of so-called “quiet luxurious” dominating catwalks, designers have embraced extra ostentatious appears to be like in current seasons which were dubbed “increase increase” by some development forecasters.
Fashionable-day Birkin luggage are supplied by Hermes to loyal shoppers, with costs beginning at round $10,000.
‘Nostalgic’
The unique Birkin has modified arms twice since being put up on the market by Birkin at an public sale in 1994 the place the proceeds went to an AIDS charity, based on Sotheby’s.
Thursday’s sale represents a rare pay day for proprietor Catherine Benier, who has a boutique within the upmarket sixth district in Left Financial institution Paris.
She stated she was “astonished on the end result” in an announcement despatched by Sotheby’s.
“I’m already very nostalgic on the considered figuring out the bag is not mine however extraordinarily pleased it has discovered a brand new loving dwelling,” she added.
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She informed The New York Instances earlier than the sale that the bag, which she purchased at public sale 25 years in the past, was the “jewel in my assortment”.
The bag is now the second-most costly vogue merchandise ever bought at public sale, Sotheby’s stated.
The document was established by a pair of ruby pink slippers worn by actor Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz in 1939, which bought for $32.5 million in 2024 in Dallas, Texas.
‘A few years of use’
The start of the Birkin bag has change into a contemporary vogue legend.
Throughout a Paris-London flight, the singer and movie star — who died in 2023 — complained to fellow traveller Jean-Louis Dumas, then head of Hermes, about not having the ability to discover a bag suited to her wants as a younger mom.
The results of their dialog was a spacious tote with room for child bottles, created in 1984 and named the Birkin.
The protoype, which Birkin usually carried together with her and customised with stickers, is engraved with the initials J.B. and has a number of distinctive options, together with closed metallic rings, a non-detachable shoulder strap and a built-in nail clipper.
Its situation “displays the numerous years of use by the actress and singer”, Sotheby’s stated beforehand.
A barely in another way sized model of the unique has change into the flagship product of the immensely worthwhile family-owned Hermes ever since.
Produced in very restricted numbers, the bag has maintained an aura of exclusivity and is beloved by celebrities from the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez to Victoria Beckham.
Pissed off fashionistas in America even sued Hermes in a class-action go well with in California final yr after they had been refused entry to the luggage.
Birkin had a typically strained relationship with Hermes, as soon as threatening to take her identify off the luggage due to the group’s remedy of crocodiles whose skins are used for its merchandise.
The previous spouse of French singing legend Serge Gainsbourg championed a bunch of causes, together with animal rights.
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