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Birkin Bag

The "Birkin" bag is a purse manufactured by leather goods and ready-to-wear manufacturer Hermès. It is named after British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin, a longtime resident of France.

Press accounts of the bag's genesis differ in details. Birkin told noted fashion writer Dana Thomas that while seated next to Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas in 1984 on a Paris to London flight, she opened her Hermès-made datebook and a flurry of loose notes fell to the floor. Dumas took her datebook and returned it a few weeks later with a pocket sewn into the back (which has since become standard). Birkin went on to discuss with Dumas her difficulty in finding a leather weekend bag and at his prompting, described her ideal. Shortly thereafter, the bag she described arrived at her flat with a note from Dumas.

Hermès Birkin handbags are hand-built by experienced craftsmen, one of the primary factors contributing to the high price of all Hermès handbags. The production of each bag may take up to 48 work hours, translating into weeks. They are distributed worldwide to Hermès boutiques on intentionally unpredictable schedules and in even fewer reliable quantities, creating a sense of scarcity and exclusivity around the product.
The exterior of the bag can be made of a variety of leathers. One of the most expensive variations of the bag is made of saltwater crocodile skin. The price of these bags depends on the size of the scales. Bags with smaller scales cost much more than those with larger scales.
Typically, a Birkin bag's lining is made of goat skin and its color will match the bag's exterior color. The bags can also be special-ordered with custom leathers and colors, but order privileges are granted only to certain established Hermès clients, and again, on an unpredictable basis.

In pop culture, the Birkin has become a symbol of ultimate luxury, although its ostentatious use by the wives and girlfriends of British footballers during the 2006 World Cup caused some fashion writers to speculate about its continued desirability.In Paris it has been associated with, among others, so-called BCBG (bon chic bon genre) women. Jane Birkin remarked that by 2006, the fame of the bag had exceeded her own: "Now when my daughter [actress Charlotte Gainsbourg] goes to America, they ask her if she is the daughter of the bag."
In recent years the bag has featured prominently on popular television shows such as Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, and Will & Grace. In the final season of The Sopranos, Dr. Melfi carried a Birkin bag into her own therapy session. In Gossip Girl, Lily van der Woodsen carries her Birkin bag in black and tan in season one and in the next two seasons she is seen using many other different Birkin bags. In Gilmore Girls episode 6, season 6 (Title: Welcome to the Dollhouse) Rory is given a Birkin Bag from Logan. In this scene she is not aware of how special the Birkin Bag is, but gets clued-in later on in the episode.

Notable references

The song "Doing It Way Big" by Lil Kim contains the lines, "...working at the Birkin Hermes bag, only multimillionaires who know about that be like damn she doing it way big."

In the Sex and the City episode "coulda woulda shoulda", the character Samantha Jones exclaims "It's not a bag; it's a fucking Birkin!" when attempting to use Lucy Liu's name to get moved up the waiting list.

Madonna's Give It 2 Me music video features rapper/singer-songwriter/music producer Pharrell, who also produced the song, dragging a purple Birkin bag along the floor, in a reference to the 'get stupid' bridge of the song.
"Comin' back with Birkin bags. Your chick was like what type of purse is that?"
(Jay-Z, 30 Somethin')
"I used to bag girls like Birkin bags. Now I bag B..."
(Jay-Z in Beyoncé Knowles' Déjà Vu)
"Hermès Birkin Bags, Manolo Blahniks, Timbs, Aviator Lenses..."
(Jay-Z in '03 Bonnie & Clyde with Beyoncé)