My Birkin Blog

Article | It’s in the bag, the Birkin one that is | weblogs.sun-sentinel.com

My name is Oline, and I am a bag lady.
I admit to an addiction I cannot seem to break.
OK, two additions. Oh, all right...more than that.
But let’s just mention two addictions for now.
One is dark chocolate, the higher the percentage the better. (You fellow addicts know what I’m talking about.) You won’t find candy bars that come from a vending machine in my desk. You will find luscious dark chocolate bars and bits, some as high as 85%.
The other addition is purses. Handbags. Pocketbooks. Whatever you want to call them.
I love them.
Big ones, small ones; frames, clutches, shoulder, satchel, shoppers. Whatever. I am so there with them.
For me, a new month requires a new bag. For that matter, so does a new week and, if I am in the mood, a new day.
I have been known to change purses three times in a day if the occasion calls for it. (And yes, the occasions have called for it!)
So how does all this relate to books?
Michael Tonello’s book Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag recently crossed my desk. (That's him up on the right)
Actually, it crossed my desk via my colleague Gail Gedan Spencer, she of The Skinny and an admitted bag lady herself.
“You should blog about this,” she said gleefully. “It has two things you – books and purses.”
The book looks like a lot of fun. It’s described as how the author unlocked the “fabled waiting list of more than two years to buy one from Hermès” and became one of eBay’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review stating it was "Funny, whip-smart. . . . Both a hilarious raid on fashion’s strongholds and a memoir that satisfies like a novel. Fashion die-hards, and many others, will be delighted from beginning to end."
The book does sounds delightful, but it still won’t make me change my mind about the Birkin, which I consider to be a piece of fraud perpetuated on purse fanatics and more famous for who carries it and the controversy surrounding it than being a cool bag.
(It was introduced in 1984 and named after the British film actress/activist Jane Birkin, (right) either for whom it was designed or who designed it, depending on the different sources, web sites and madeup online encyclopedias.)
The Birkin is one expensive bag. Most start at around $6,000. According to lore, the most expensive version is $85,000 and is made of crocodile and has solid gold closures that are adorned with diamonds.
Yes.
That’s right.
That’s one purse.
And it’s not even pretty. Look for yourself!
Martha Stewart (top) caused a bit of a stir when she carried two to her trial.
The Birkin starred in an episode of Sex and the City when Kim Cattrall’s character, desperate after waiting years for one, lied that she needed one for her client, actress Lucy Liu.
Alexis Bledel’s character Rory received one from her too wealthy boyfriend on The Gilmore Girls.
As for me, I think that any purse that costs more than a car is a ridiculous price. Especially since it pales when compared to really pretty purses.

The Birkin or the book...The book is a better value.