When the English/French actress Jane Birkin died last July, I wrote about her life and noted that many people, outside of France, who had never seen her films, still knew her name because of the bag that Hermes designed for her and called the Birkin.

It’s quite a charming story, Jane Birkin was on a flight and found herself sitting next to Jean-Louis Dumas, who headed Hermes, which is a family-run company. When Birkin got up, everything dropped out of her bag and she complained to Dumas that she needed a handbag that would accommodate all the things she carried with her. Dumas, promised to help. And a few weeks later, when Birkin was back home in Paris, a package arrived from Dumas. It contained a bag Hermes had specially made to Dumas’s design to cater to her needs.

Since then, the Birkin bag has become a symbol of understated elegance and timeless luxury. It never forms part of any sale. Nobody can buy it on discount. Influencers are never asked to promote it. It has no celebrity brand ambassadors; Hermes doesn't even sell it at most of its stores. And yet it is the most coveted bag in the world.

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Because it is so hard to get a Birkin (more difficult even than procuring a Kelly, another iconic bag that was renamed after Grace Kelly made it famous) a whole industry has grown up around finding ways to procure a Birkin. There has been a best-selling book about a man’s search for a Birkin. The internet is full of hacks through which you can apparently trick Hermes into selling you a Birkin. (It doesn’t work so the hacks are useless ).

And there is a........

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