For anyone who has ever dreamed of owning one of the most iconic pieces of fashion history, the moment arrived when it was announced that Jane Birkin’s Hermès bag would be auctioned via Sotheby’s on July 10. And after what was reportedly a tense bidding war, it fetched €7 million ($12.2 million AUD). After fees and buyer’s premium, the final cost was even higher, €8.6 million ($15.4 million AUD).
It was expected that the bag would likely sell for closer to €1 million euro, but bidders knew they were in for a record-breaking auction when that was the opening bid. (Apparently, gasps were heard around the room, at this stage).
“I came from London to bid on Jane Birkin’s Birkin,” Hanushka Toni, the CEO of Sellier, a UK-based curated luxury resale platform, told Vogue. “Hermès are our bread and butter. I had a suspicion this would be the most expensive bag ever sold at auction, and I was proven right. I went up to 2 million euros—I thought people would tap out at 5 million. Going up to 7 million… Shocking, but not shocking!”
Another attendee at the auction, Dana Auslander, CEO and founder of wealth tech company Luxus, told the publication that she travelled to Paris from New York for the auction. “This is my Super Bowl,” she told Vogue. “I was hoping it would get $1 million because that would validate my investments, but for it to go for what it did… it’s mindblowing.”
The original Birkin prototype was created for the late actor and singer in 1984, after she told Jean-Louis Dumas, the chairman of Hermès at the time, that she needed a bag that could accommodate her busy, on-the-go lifestyle.
This is a story that Birkin recounted while sitting front row of the Hermès fall 2012 show, telling Vogue at the time that, “I think I drew it on the sick bag—or the not-be-sick bag. And [Dumas] said ‘I’ll make it for you'”. The year was 1981, and as she boarded an Air France flight, she found herself seated next to Dumas, and when her iconic bucket bag spilled its contents into his lap as she tried to fit it into the overhead compartment, she pitched her idea while lamenting the tiny bags women held at the time. As the story goes, according to Sotheby’s, Dumas sketched a bag and asked Birkin’s permission to use her name as an homage to her.
Of course, Hermès did make that bag for Birkin and it has become one of the most coveted and rare designer bags in the world. But there is of course one Birkin that’s rarest of all, and that’s the original, made for it’s namesake.
“No handbag in the world carries as much cultural significance as the Hermès Birkin. But before it became the ultimate symbol of luxury and status, the Birkin was born from practicality — a design created specifically for the iconic actress and singer Jane Birkin herself,” said Sotheby’s in a statement release on June 5. “For the first time in nearly 25 years, Jane’s very own Original Birkin returns to the spotlight as a highlight of Sotheby’s upcoming Fashion Icons auction in Paris, running from June 26 to July 10, 2025.”
Beyond the obvious appeal of obtaining such an iconic piece of fashion history, there are also intricate design details that make this one-0f-a-kind piece even more unique. As the prototype for what has become today’s Birkin bag, Jane’s borrowed design elements from Hermès’ iconic sac Haut à Courroies (HAC) bag, which was originally designed to carry riding gear. It also featured seven distinct design elements that have never been put together in one item since. Inf act, none of those unique design elements are included on the modern-day Birkin. (A shoulder strap, slightly different hardware, its size, and a “J.B” monogram stamp are a few examples.)
The original Birkin was used and well-loved by Birkin until 1994, when she donated it to a charity auction for the Association Solidarité Sida, a leading French AIDS charity. It was auctioned again in 2000 and has been privately owned since.
Jane Birkin was as beloved for her effortless French girl style as she was for her acting and singing, and her outspoken support for causes such as climate change. She also donated her annual royalties from the Hermès Birkin bag to her favourite charities, and it was no small sum (it was £30,000 in 2011, according to Vogue).
She is also tangentially responsible for the rising bag charm trend over the past 18 months, as once TikTok rediscovered the icon, they naturally wanted to emulate her style. While the messaging may have been lost along the way, Birkin’s baubled bag was an homage to a life well-lived, rather than a purely decorative piece. Collected over many years, Birkin was known for hanging and sticking keepsakes over her bag and she certainly wasn’t precious about it. In the below video, you’ll see that she kept countless messy bits and pieces in her beat up bag, and honestly, we think that’s beautiful.
Jane Birkin’s original Birkin bag was be exhibited in New York from June 6 to June 12, 2025, at Sotheby’s headquarters at 1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, before an auction in Paris. It was sold in the exact condition in which Jane Birkin wore it, down to the “J.B” monogram and the dangling nail clippers inside, as part of the “Fashion Icons” sale.
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