Your status is validated immediately.”įirst released in 1997, Fendi's Baguette rose to fame along with Carrie Bradshaw, the Sex and the City character portrayed by Sarah Jessica Parker. “When you carry an iconic Hermès bag - Birkin, Kelly, Constance - no one knows how long you have been into this culture or if you are a newbie. “It is not a fashion bag - it is a statement bag,” says Mightychic's Debra Kent of Hermès's widely beloved accessories. Today, handbag lovers are savvier and have a wider range of shopping options. Once, a single “It” handbag ruled each fashion season. Level of craftsmanship, style and shape matters - from coin purses in ancient Greece to early 20th-century opera bags and onward, handbags have evolved considerably over the years to meet our needs and desires, whether or not you happen to be prioritizing functionality over a flashy exterior. Finding the Right Handbags and Purses for YouĪn integral part of fashion, handbags and purses have been indispensable accessories ever since we began to carry around personal items. Find a variety of vintage Hermès handbags, day dresses, shoes and more on 1stDibs. There’s the Constance bag, a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy, the recently relaunched 1970s-era Evelyne and, on the vintage market, a slew of designs dating back to the 1920s. Since the 1920s, the brand has produced some of the most desirable leather goods in the world. While the Kelly and Birkin may be standouts, gracing the arms of everyone from royal heiresses to hip-hop stars in the past few decades, the handbags are but a small part of Hermès’s fashion offerings. Owing to the brand’s legendary commitment to deft, handcrafted construction, the Birkin is an investment that is coveted by collectors everywhere. After the two travelers were properly introduced, Birkin helped design Jean-Louis’s most famous contribution to the Hermès canon: the Birkin bag, a roomy, square catchall with the HAC’s trademark leather flap top and the addition of a lock and key. In 1981, Robert Dumas’s son Jean-Louis Dumas, then Hermès chairman, found himself sitting next to French actress and musician Jane Birkin on a plane, where she was complaining about finding a suitable carryall for the necessary accoutrements of motherhood. Kelly even once used one as a sling for her broken arm. Well-heeled women wear it on their heads, around their necks and, in a genius piece of cross-promotion, tied to the straps of their Hermès bags. Today, vintage Hermès scarves, typically adorned in rich colors and elaborate patterns, serve many functions, just as they did back then. Based on a woodblock designed by Dumas and printed on Chinese silk, the accessory was an immediate hit. Robert Dumas was also responsible for another one of the brand’s most iconic offerings: the launch of its first silk scarf on the occasion of Hermès’s 100th anniversary in 1937. Each Kelly bag takes between 18 and 25 hours to produce, and its 680 hand stitches owe solely to one Hermès artisan. In 1977, Hermès officially renamed the model for her, and the Kelly bag was born. Because she was photographed constantly, the coverage catapulted her handbag to international popularity.

Later, actress Grace Kelly, then engaged to Prince Rainier of Monaco, is said to have used one of these bags to conceal her pregnancy during the 1950s. In the 1930s, Robert Dumas (son-in-law to Émile-Maurice Hermès, Thierry’s grandson) designed a smaller, trapezoidal take on the flap bag with a handle and two side straps. Today, 120 years later, the HAC remains in Hermès’s line - and its distinctive flap and clasping straps have laid the groundwork for some of the house’s other iconic bags. As the world made the switch from horse to automobile, the bag adapted, becoming a multifunctional travel satchel instead of a designated saddlebag. A tall bag secured with a folded leather flap (fastened with bridle-inspired straps), it was designed to transport riding boots and a harness. The first top-handled bag ever produced by Hermès was the Haut à courroies, which made its debut in 1892. Gradually, the house extended into accessories and luggage for its riders, and today, in paying homage to its origins, the family-run luxury brand resurfaces horse motifs in everything from clothing and modernist jewelry to pillows and handbags. In 1837, German-born French entrepreneur Thierry Hermès opened a saddle and harness purveyor in Paris. For Hermès, what began as a maker of leather equestrian goods for European noblemen would eventually grow into one of the most storied fashion labels in the world.

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