Jane Birkin’s original bag sold for $15m. Is this it-girl inflation?
The stratospheric price paid for the battered old prototype speaks to a fanaticism around the belongings of stylishly influential women that is becoming unseemly.
Jane Birkin in 1976. Her unpretentious way around style has become only more legendary since her death in July 2023.
The late Jane Birkin’s original Birkin bag – the prototype of the now-famous purse that was designed and named for the actress and singer, and which has since become an international icon of extravagant wealth – sold for a whopping €8.6 million ($15.3 million) at auction on Thursday in Paris.
Bidding started at an outrageous €1.3 million, and the auctioneer described it as “the most famous bag of all time”. Only approved bidders were permitted to take part, and the estimate was provided by request only.
