When I first laid my eyes on a Birkin bag by Hermès hanging in the crook of the elbow of my mothers boss I knew that day I would continue to pursue ownership of this bag until the day I died. One of the most beautiful handbags in the world the Birkin convenes a sense of luxury and old money class. Handmade in France by artisans these works of art may take up to several days to be completed in a labour intensive process with each of the bag being hand-sewn, buffed, painted and polished due to this meticulous craftsmanship and scarcity they all hold price tags in the thousands with the more exotic leathers and hardware involve upping the cost into the tens of thousands, A particular piece that caught my eye was a Grey and Silver 35cm Birkin with palladium hardware composed of Salt-water Crocodile Skin at the easy price of $78,000.
I think the beauty in the Birkin that attracts me is not only the price and relative exclusivity of the bag but the idea and artistic meaning behind the bag as an individual but also as part of the history of the company, the designer, the artisans, the founding family in the 1800s who set about to achieve this legacy. The bag in itself also contains a separate identity and history as unique as mine, like a finger print each bag is different because of several components, the artisan responsible for its creation, the finger print like quality of each crocodile skin which is dependent on its history prior to becoming a piece of art.
-S.M.
Hermès (Cont'd)