Original Birkin Prototype Sells for £7.4m at Paris Auction

A landmark piece of fashion history has just shattered records. The original prototype of the Hermès Birkin bag—designed in 1984 for actress and style icon Jane Birkin—has sold for an astonishing €8.6 million (£7.4 million) at Sotheby's Fashion Icons sale in Paris.

The bidding war was fierce, with speculation swirling around high-profile names, including newlywed Lauren Sánchez, wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In the end, the winning bid came not from the Bezos camp, but from a private Japanese collector participating by phone.

This isn't just any handbag—it's the Birkin that started it all. Created by Hermès for Birkin herself, the prototype includes her initials and a non-removable shoulder strap, making it a one-of-a-kind artifact of fashion lore.

"There is no doubt that the original Birkin bag is a true one of a kind – a singular piece of fashion history that has grown into a pop culture phenomenon that signals luxury in the most refined way possible," said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby's global head of handbags and fashion. "The prototype that started it all carries a soul and legacy that no other handbag can claim."

Among the bidders was Hanushka Toni, founder and CEO of luxury resale boutique Sellier, which boasts one of the largest stocks of vintage Birkins in London.

"As someone who has built a business around sourcing and selling Hermès, and who has a personal obsession with the craftsmanship and cultural power of luxury handbags, the decision to bid on Le Birkin felt instinctive," Toni said. "This wasn't just a handbag – it was a moment in fashion history. That kind of authenticity gives the piece emotional weight far beyond its price tag."

Fittingly, the Birkin's origin story reads like a cinematic meet-cute. It all began on an Air France flight from Paris to London in 1984. Birkin, then 37, was traveling alone with her young daughter Lou Doillon, her usual straw basket bag crushed days earlier by her partner, director Jacques Doillon. Struggling with an impractical substitute, her belongings spilled mid-flight. The man seated beside her suggested she needed a bag with pockets.

"I said, 'The day Hermès makes one with pockets, I will have that,'" she later recalled to The Telegraph. As it happened, that man was Jean-Louis Dumas, Hermès' CEO at the time. Inspired, the pair sketched a design on an airplane sick bag.

When Birkin went to collect the finished bag, Dumas offered to name it after her instead of taking payment. "I was very flattered," she said. Hermès later paid her a symbolic £30,000 per year in royalties—money she donated to charity until her passing in 2023.

From humble beginnings as a stylish solution to the chaos of motherhood, the Birkin bag has become the ultimate status symbol. While the first model sold for $2,000, today even the entry-level Birkin commands $11,400 and up—if you can get your hands on one at all.

This record-breaking sale confirms it: the Birkin is no longer just a bag. It's a legend.

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