Style icon Jane Birkin has died at age 76 of undisclosed causes. Birkin was a major sex symbol of the Mod era and the swinging 70s, performing in both French and English.
She was closely associated romantically and creatively with Serge Gainsbourg.
Birkin was also married to James Bond director John Barry and filmmaker Jacques Doillon, having one child each with Barry, Gainsbourg, and Doilloon Her sexy performance with Brigitte Bardot in Roger Vadim’s Don Juan was at the height of her fame:
Birkin came to the wider attention of filmmakers and fans after playing an aspiring model in the 1966 film Blow Up:
The Birkin bag was inspired after Birkin’s chance encounter the the head of Hermés on an airplane in 1984. Via New York Times:
It was her bulky basket and its overflowing contents that caught the attention of Jean-Louis Dumas, the chief executive of Hermès, on a flight from Paris to London and inspired him to create a tote capacious enough for all her stuff. “I would love to have been a sort of neat person and wear a Kelly,” Ms. Birkin once explained, referring to a prim, boxy-style handbag created and named for the film star Grace Kelly. “But I never thought you could get enough in it.”
Birkin personalized her own Birkin bag, which she continued to carry all her life:
Birkin was also involved in philanthropy, including HIV/AIDS activism. Birkin’s daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg made a lovely and intimate film profile a coupld of years ago:
Image: Photoshot / Avalon
