A prototype Hermès handbag originally created for the late singer and actress Jane Birkin has sold for €8.6 million at Sotheby’s Paris, setting a new record for the most valuable fashion accessory ever auctioned in Europe.
The black leather bag, commissioned in 1984 and bearing Birkin’s initials, was acquired by a private Japanese collector following an intense 10-minute bidding contest among nine participants.
The sale marks a defining moment in fashion history, not merely for its price, but for the significance of the object itself.
The story of the now-iconic Birkin bag begins aboard a flight in the early 1980s, when Jane Birkin, seated next to then-Hermès chief executive Jean-Louis Dumas, lamented the lack of a practical yet elegant handbag. As legend has it, she sketched her ideal design on the back of an airplane sick bag. Dumas took note.
Within a year, Hermès delivered a bespoke leather hold-all tailored to her specifications: large, functional, and unmistakably chic.
Birkin would carry the prototype for nearly a decade. It was deeply personal: embossed with “J.B.” on the flap, marked with stickers supporting humanitarian causes, and customized with a non-removable shoulder strap and even a nail clipper she always kept attached. This was an accessory worn for life.
In 1994, Birkin donated the bag to raise funds for AIDS research. It later came into the possession of Parisian luxury boutique owner Catherine Benier, who kept it for 25 years before offering it at this week’s landmark auction.
Morgane Halimi, global head of handbags and fashion at Sotheby’s, described the sale as “a celebration of the enduring spirit and appeal of its muse.” The prototype, she added, represents “the starting point of an extraordinary story that has given us a modern icon.”
The Birkin bag went on to become one of the world’s most exclusive and recognizable fashion items, commanding prices well into six figures and spawning years-long waitlists. Yet the original remains singular — less a luxury object than a symbol of personal style, creative serendipity, and the enduring influence of Jane Birkin.