Elevate Your Purses with the “Jane Birkin-fying your Bag” Trend
Two words: Jane Birkin. If you aren’t well-versed in the world of fashion, She is a famous fashion icon, who has a bag named after her – The Hermes Birkin Bag to be precise. Now, why are we still talking about her impact on the fashion world and how is it meshing with today’s trends?
Courtesy of BusinessStandard.com
Before discussing the trends inspired by her, we have to discuss who she was. Jane Birkin was an actress, singer, and model born in 1946. She was known for a variety of roles in French films and songs, during the 1960s. During this time other celebrities like The Rolling Stones, Twiggy, and The Beatles were in the spotlight, and Jane Birking was soon added to the list. For a while she was known to carry the same straw purse with her everywhere, which soon changed into the Birkin Bag.
Courtesy of Luxonomy.net
The story of how the Birkin Bag came to be actually starts with a plane ride she took. In the 1980s, Birkin shared a flight with Jean-Louis Dumas, the CEO of Hermes at the time. As they sat on the flight, Birkin’s belongings fell out of her straw bag, out of the overhead compartment and onto the plane floor. This led to a conversation between them about “the perfect bag.” As they discussed the ideal bag: a spacious bag with multiple pockets, the sketch of the bag came to life on an airplane sickbag. Soon enough, the iconic and famously-known Birkin bag soon came to life which became produced in 1984.With the Birkin Bag, we began to see Jane use it to its fullest potential. She would stuff the bag to the brim with her belongings, as well as customize it to match her style.
Courtesy of Vogue Scandinavia
With her stylization of the expensively chic Hermes bag came an ongoing trend. Today, we see on social media the trend of fashion lovers called: “Jane Birkin-fying my Bag.” The execution of the trend is to customize your bag to show your personality, interests, and/or style. For example, she would customize her purse with scarves and charms. Those participating in the trend now use charms, jewelry, beads, scarves, and so much more to create a more eclectic look for their everyday purses. This is a great trend for self-expression and sharing in the individuality each person has. This trend she started has circled back, even after her passing in 2023.
Courtesy of TikTok: (Left to Right) @natashahmedx , @wolfshayley, @sfilalipop
The idea behind the “Birkin-fying your bag” trend is to use your bag (whether or not it is expensive) to its full purpose. With expensive purses, many consumers hold their purses as collectables, especially Birkin Bags. That was not the case for Jane Birkin, who used her bag daily, which was not always kept in pristine condition. Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take care of your things, because of course you should, but you might as well use what you buy. With any purse, cheap or expensive, the trend supports not keeping your purse on the shelf, but actually using it through wear and tear all while customizing it to your liking!
Jane Birkin - Michel DuFour
“Birkin-fying your bag” is a cute trend and great for self-expression. It allows consumers to tap into their creative sides and customize their pieces. It also brings up the idea of being materialistic, where we should hold objects to a higher standard. We should be able to acknowledge how important the products we buy are, but still be able to use them. We should put the pieces we buy to good use, instead of keeping them on a shelf, and we might as well make it our own too.
Article by Gabrielle Ramos, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Georgia Wallace, Graphic Design Intern, PhotoBook Magazine
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