PARIS: The first-ever Birkin bag designed by French luxury brand Hermes for celebrity Jane Birkin sold for 8.58 million euros ($10m) at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris on Thursday, smashing previous price records for a handbag.

The modern design classic, owned by a well-known Paris-based handbag collector, sparked a telephone bidding war up to seven million euros, with the final sale price set at 8.58m with commission and fees, the Sotheby’s website showed.

The previous record sale price for a handbag at auction was set by a diamond- and white gold-encrusted crocodile skin Hermes Kelly 28, which fetched nearly $513,000 at Christies in Hong Kong in 2021.

“After weeks of anticipation, the bidding opened at one million euros, prompting a gasp from the room,” Sotheby’s said in a statement.

Sotheby’s had advised that the Birkin prototype was expected to set records.

But the staggering price tag is in keeping with the fashion world’s recent flashy aesthetics.

After years of so-called “quiet luxury” dominating catwalks, designers have embraced more ostentatious looks in recent seasons that have been dubbed “boom boom” by some trend forecasters.

The original Birkin has changed hands twice since being put up for sale at an auction in 1994 where the proceeds went to an AIDS charity, according to Sotheby’s.

Thursday’s seller, Catherine Benier, who has a boutique in an upmarket quarter of Paris, told The New York Times before the sale that the bag was the “jewel in my collection”.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2025