The Original Birkin Bag Was a Picnic Basket

The Hermès Birkin bag was born out of a simple idea and a legendary coincidence: Jane Birkin needed a bag that could fit a lot of stuff, and she happened to be seated next to Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas on a flight from Paris to London in 1983. The duo reviewed a few sketches, which Birkin said they had scribbled on an airline vomit bag, and in 1984, the Birkin bag arrived

But the original handbag she popularized was no luxury item.