Sketched out on an air sickness bag, the first Birkin handbag — the prototype for fashion’s must-have accessory — sold for a staggering €8.6 million ($15.29 million), including fees, on Thursday in Paris to become the second most valuable fashion item ever sold at auction.

The winning bid of €7 million drew gasps and applause from the audience. The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.

Now, the original Birkin bag, named after the actor, singer and fashion icon that Hermès created it for — the late Jane Birkin — is in a new league of its own. Only one fashion item has sold at auction for more: a pair of ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz, which sold for $US32.5 million ($49.43 million) in 2024, Sotheby’s said.

Whistles in the auction room

The Paris auction room buzzed with anticipation as the sale got under way, with the auctioneer reminding the crowd that the bag was “totally unique” and “the most famous bag of all time”.

The bidding started at €1 million but quickly increased, with telephone bidders fighting it out at the end. With Sotheby’s fees included, the total price for the winning bidder from Japan was a cool €8.6 million, the auction house said.

From the starting price, bids rocketed past €2 million, then €3 million, €4 million and €5 million, to astonished gasps. When the price jumped from €5.5 million to €6 million in one swoop, there were whistles and applause.

The final bids were €6.2 million, then €6.5 million, then €6.8 million before the Japanese buyer’s last winning bid: €7 million.

Sotheby’s didn’t identify the buyer. Nine collectors bidding by telephone, online, and in the room competed in the 10-minute auction battle, with the private collector from Japan beating a last remaining other bidder at the end.

Paris fashion house Hermès exclusively commissioned the bag for the London-born Birkin in 1984 — branding it with her initials JB on the front flap, below the lock — and delivered the finished one-of-a-kind bag to her the following year, Sotheby’s said. The subsequent commercialized version of Birkin’s bag went on to become one of the world’s most exclusive luxury items, extravagantly priced and with a yearslong waiting list.

The bag was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that the pair got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor.

Birkin asked Dumas why Hermès didn’t make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit bag the sort of hold-all that she would like. He then had an example made for her and, flattered, she agreed when Hermès asked whether it could commercialise the bag in her name.

“There is no doubt that the Original Birkin bag is a true one-of-a-kind — a singular piece of fashion history that has grown into a pop culture phenomenon that signals luxury in the most refined way possible. It is incredible to think that a bag initially designed by Hermès as a practical accessory for Jane Birkin has become the most desirable bag in history,” said Morgane Halimi, Sotheby’s head of handbags and fashion.

The bag became so famous that Birkin once mused before her death in 2023 at age 76 that her obituaries would likely “say, ‘Like the bag’ or something”.

“Well, it could be worse,” she added.

Sotheby’s said that seven design elements on the handcrafted all-black leather prototype set it apart from Birkins that followed.

It’s the only Birkin with a nonremovable shoulder strap — fitting for the busy life and practicality of the singer, actor, social activist and mother who was also known for her romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg and their duets that included the steamy 1969 song Je t’aime moi non plus (I Love You, Me Neither).

Her bag also had a nail clipper attached, because Birkin “was never one for long painted nails,” Sotheby’s said.

The bag that Hermès handmade for her, developed off its existing Haut A Courroies model, also has gilded brass hardware, bottom studs and other features that differ from commercial Birkins.

Birkin’s casual, breezy style in the 1960s and early 1970s — long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit minidresses and basket bags — still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.

When Birkin chatted to Hermès’ Dumas on the Paris-to-London flight about what her ideal handbag would be, she’d been in the habit of carrying her things around in a wicker basket, because she felt handbags in the 1980s were too small, Sotheby’s said. She was traveling with her young daughter, Charlotte, and complained that she couldn’t find a bag suitable for her needs as a mother, Hermès says.

Hermès later gifted her four other Birkin bags. She kept the prototype for nearly a decade, before auctioning it for an AIDS charity in 1994. It was auctioned again in 2000 and had since been in private hands.

The previous owner, who identified herself only as Catherine B, told journalists at the auction that the bag “has all the attributes of a star.”

“The price is the price of the Hermès story,” she said.

Sotheby’s called it “more than just a bag”.

“The Birkin has evolved from a practical accessory to become a timeless cultural icon,” it said.

“Its presence spans the worlds of music, film, television and the arts,” it added. “It is a red-carpet staple, a fashion magazine mainstay, and a coveted piece in the wardrobes of celebrities, artists and stylists.”