Hermes Constance Bag

Since its 1984 debut, the Hermès Birkin bag has become a coveted status symbol as much as it has an exclusive collector’s piece. The handbag is among the most expensive in the world, and the appetite for the accessory is well-known inside and outside the fashion industry. The history of the Birkin bag owes to a chance meeting on a flight from Paris to London in 1981, when British actress, singer and model Jane Birkin found herself describing her ideal handbag to another passenger. The two tra...

In 1837, Thierry Hermès (1801–78) founded his eponymous luxury goods company in Paris as a saddle manufacturer, serving the era’s carriage trade. In 1880, under the stewardship of Thierry's son Émile-Charles, fine riding gear was added to its offerings to complement the saddles. Hermès eventually expanded their workshops to design handbags in the years that followed. The Kelly bag, originally introduced as the Sac à dépêches (“the dispatch bag”) in 1935, was created by Robert Dumas, son-in-la...