With all of the hype surrounding the elusive Hermes Birkin bag, especially lately, I decided to delve into the bio of Jane Birkin, for whom the famed bag was named. Born December 14, 1946, the English born actress and singer emerged during the swinging '60's. Although at the time she did not speak French, Jane won a role in "Slogan" opposite Serge Gainsbourg with whom she would collaborate professionally and personally for many years. Their relationship lasted thirteen years and in 1971, produced a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg. In 1982, she gave birth to a third daughter, Lou Doillon, with director Jacques Doillon. They separated after Gainsbourg died in 1991. Jane is also well known for her humanitarian work with Amnesty International, AIDS relief, and has visited war-torn Bosnia. As if that weren't enough, she has also collaborated with many well established recording artists. The Birkin bag itself came about in 1984, when Hermes CEO Jean Louis Dumas created a supple black bag for Jane fashioned after an 1892 design. It was a bag she could literally live out of since she traveled so frequently. The bag has since become iconic and sought after by women (and men) the world over. The bag was featured in a famed episode of "Sex and the City" and more recently in an episode of "Fashion Hunters" on Bravo.
