Christie’s Handbags auction house, New York, sold a $380,000 Hermes Birkin at auction. This broke the record for the most expensive handbag in the world. A Hermes Birkin is known for an outrageous prices, long waiting lists and celebrity clients. So, what is so special about this particular bag?
This handbag is made from matte “Himalayan” white crocodile-skin. I personally struggle with this from an animal rights perspective, so see my links below for the pros and cons of natural skin bags versus manufacturer materials. This will help to make up your own mind about using animal skins for fashion.
Back to the rationale of the cost of this bag. The Birkin Handbag is adorned with 18 Karat white gold and diamond hardware. The original estimate was to sell between $193K – $258K for this Birkin, made in 2014.
Christie’s representative said the sale happened after a ‘heated’ 15-minute bidding war between phone and online buyers from their Hong Kong auction house. The identity of the winning buyer is none other than David Beckham, husband of fashionista and ex-Spice Girl, Birkin enthusiast, Victoria Beckham.
An identical bag set the record last year for the world’s most pricey handbag at $300K but was made in 2008. This extremely rare $380,000 bag is considered to be the only one or two with Himalayan pattern each year, as the process needed to create this pattern is so time-consuming.
Would you, if you had the money, spend this much on a handbag? I’d love to hear your comments. I struggle with the crocodile skin aspect, and reports of poor living conditions on the farms from which Hermes bags purchase their skins, being a vegetarian and an advocate for animal rights. I think we have so much amazing technology surely we can use a manufactured substrate. But I also hear the argument about using made-made fabrics and materials. (but that warrants it’s own post sometime in the future).
View other luxury posts on dianepenelope.com
Source: torontosun.com cnbc.com and @christieshandbags
Some beautiful alternative designer handbags
Note all of us can afford designer handbags, let alone record breaking ones, but here are some swoon worthy designer bags to dream about:
The links of the bags above contain affiliate links. This means if you click on them and purchase the product within about 30 days I get a tiny bonus (between 2% and 5%). I do not promote anything that I don’t love myself.
