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What started as a sketch on an airplane vomit bag has become the world's most expensive handbag. The original Hermès Birkin, once carried by the late Jane Birkin herself, has just sold for a jaw-dropping $10 million at a Sotheby's online auction, turning heads and emptying wallets in equal measure.
The bag, weathered by nearly a decade of Birkin's personal use, fetched €7 million ($8.2 million) before fees, with the final total soaring to €8.6 million ($10 million). Gasps echoed through the livestream as nine determined collectors battled over the historic artifact in a bidding war that lasted ten tense minutes. The winning bidder, a private Japanese collector, now holds a piece of fashion history that not even diamond-studded or crocodile-skinned versions have come close to matching.
First gifted to Birkin by Hermès in 1985 after an impromptu design collaboration with then-chairman Jean-Louis Dumas, this iconic bag was born out of function, not fashion. Birkin, a mother of three, lamented her lack of a spacious yet chic carryall. Dumas famously asked her to sketch her ideal bag mid-flight, and the result became the blueprint for the modern Birkin. The bag accompanied Birkin daily for nearly ten years before she sold it in 1994 to benefit AIDS research. Since then, it has been exhibited at MoMA and the Victoria & Albert Museum, only returning to the market 25 years later via Sotheby's.
This well-loved relic isn't pristine by any means. Its black leather surface is scuffed and stained, adorned with stickers from UNICEF and Médecins du Monde, and it even features her initials, "J.B." etched into the flap. A pair of silver nail clippers dangles from the strap—a nod to Birkin's fondness for grooming on the go. Its imperfections are precisely what collectors crave.
Morgane Halimi of Sotheby's hailed the sale as a milestone in fashion history. Beyond its monetary value, the bag represents Jane Birkin's enduring influence. Ironically, the actress once quipped that she might be remembered solely for the bag that bears her name. Given this record-breaking sale, she may have been right. Yet it is her spirit—practical, creative, charitable—that lives on through every scratch and story sewn into that legendary leather.
