It’s official: the original Hermès Birkin—the very first, designed for and carried by Jane herself—has just sold at auction for a jaw-dropping $15.2 million AUD. Yes, million. And yes, that bag. The one that started it all.

The sale went down at Sotheby’s Paris (because where else would fashion royalty change hands?), where a ten-minute bidding war broke out like it was Fashion Week front row seating. The winning bid? A private Japanese collector who sealed the deal over the phone, naturally—because icons don’t show up, they dial in.

Let’s set the scene. 1984. Jane Birkin, French-British muse of every woman who’s ever romanticised a white tee and tousled fringe, is seated next to Hermès chairman Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight. She casually laments the lack of a chic, roomy carryall. He grabs an airsickness bag, sketches an idea mid-air, and voilà—the Birkin is born. Literal high fashion.

The prototype—a structured black box calfskin beauty with gilded brass hardware, an attached shoulder strap (unusual for Birkins), and Jane’s own “J.B.” initials engraved discreetly on the flap—is the stuff of collector dreams. But this wasn’t a museum piece. Jane wore it. Loved it. Scribbled notes on it. Threw it on over denim and a basket of leeks. It’s a Birkin, but make it Birkin.

True to her insouciant charm, Jane eventually gave the bag up in 1994, donating it to a charity auction to support the French AIDS organisation Solidarité Sida. She was never one to hold onto things—her magic was always in the undone. The bag then found its way into the hands of a Parisian collector, Catherine Benier, in 2000, and over the years made stops at MoMA and the V&A like the true fashion artefact it is.

More than a bag, this Birkin is a love letter to lived-in luxury. Scuffed, softened, storied—it flies in the face of the pristine, glass-boxed Birkins that populate today’s trophy closets. It’s a relic of style that doesn’t try too hard. The kind of glamour that can’t be faked, bought new, or fast-tracked via waitlist.

And now, after Jane’s passing in 2023, it feels like something bigger. A moment. A farewell. She’d already set the bag free decades earlier, long before the resale boom, the hype, the status. Because to her, it was never about the price tag. It’s since done the full fashion-girl tour—private collectors, museum spotlights, and now, a final bow at Sotheby’s. A crown jewel of fashion history, with the lived-in elegance only she could give it.

Was it worth $15 million? Darling, for the original muse of the ultimate status symbol—the woman who made effortless elegance a lifestyle—it was a steal.