Jane Birkin, who died on Sunday at the age of 76, will be remembered for many things, including her work with long-time lover Serge Gainsbourg, her vocals on his song “Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus,” and her stage and movie talents.
Her legacy, though, may last the longest in fashion.
The London-born muse who rose to fame in her chosen nation of France has long been regarded as a fashion icon. This is due in large part to the renowned Hermès purse named after her.
On a journey to London in the 1980s, Birkin met the luxury house’s then-chairman, Jean-Louis Dumas, and the timeless design was born.
Birkin apparently couldn’t find a leather bag she loved and was often pictured using a wicker basket as a handbag. Gainsbourg accidently smashed one of her baskets with his automobile the day before she met Dumas.
Birkin drew her concept for a large handbag on an aeroplane sick bag. Hermès (which announced in a statement Sunday that it had lost “a close friend and a long-time companion”) complied, and the items are now worth tens — if not hundreds — of thousands of dollars.
“Not only will I be remembered for ‘Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus’ and ‘Blowup,’” Birkin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2020, referring to her blockbuster film, “but (people) may only talk about the bag.”
However, doing so would ignore the prior decades, the 1960s and 1970s, when Birkin’s dishevelled fringe, basket bags and crotchet pieces exemplified her supposedly carefree ‘French girl style’.
Fans would continue to replicate her eccentric fashion choices, whether it was high-waisted flares, minidresses, or the white gown she memorably wore backwards (and which plunged so deeply it had to be secured with a pin) to the Gala de l’Union des Artistes in 1969.
Designers like as Paco Rabanne and Martin Margiela have sought her skills as a model and collaborator throughout the years. She also featured in a Saint Laurent ad as recently as 2016. Birkin remained an understatedly gorgeous presence on red carpets and stages throughout the globe, performing well into her 70s.
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