From basket bags to barely-there dresses, HUNGER dissects Jane Birkin’s best fashion moments

Jane Birkin’s style is easily one of the most referenced fashion portfolios of all time. Having risen to fame in London’s swinging Sixties, she became the ultimate ‘it’ girl for 60s and 70s fashion, with her cultural effect spanning across both the fashion industry and film industry alike. Starring in a plethora of cult films like Blow-Up, Wonderwall, and Death on the Nile, she met singer-songwriter and soon-to-be husband Serge Gainsbourg on the set of the French film Slogan. She then relocated to Paris with the singer, started a family, and began her musical career in the city of love. 

Her style ultimately reflected her life, weaving her English heritage into the effortless French glam of her new home. Birkin’s mode of dress (sheer dresses, woven picnic basket bags, wispy bangs, undone shirts) became a major inspiration for designers worldwide, and she was soon the muse of the biggest names to surf the zeitgeist. Paco Rabanne was infatuated with her style, and, of course, Hermés named the world’s most famous bag after the icon. As she raised her three daughters, style pioneers came and went, often trying to replicate the sure je nais se quois that Birkin held – but no one could really do it quite like her. Even to this day, young women are decorating their bags as an ode to her iconic Birkin. 

To mark Birkin’s incredible life, here, HUNGER takes a look back at some of her biggest sartorial moments…

Church bells ring…

On the wedding day of Birkin and Gainsbourg, the star brought simple luxury into the limelight. The white crochet dress was matched with flowers scattered through her hair, and the ultimate accessory of them all was that she walked barefoot down the aisle. The delicate knit was followed by another crochet iteration later in the evening, this time with a risky split down the torso clasped together with a sparkling black brooch.

French favourite: the gingham dress

For the 1969 movie La Piscine, Birkin took on the role of Penelope in the enigmatic villa thriller. In the ultimate dose of cool-girl holiday inspiration, Birkin opted for a mini gingham dress as she lounged by the pool, with a drop waist built-in belt, panelled neckline, and cut-off arms that cemented the gingham mini as a French staple forevermore. When not basking barefoot in the sun, Birkin also sported a white bikini for the role – equally as iconic – that held a circular clasp in the middle and matching bottoms.

Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus 

Both the title of her and her then-husband’s sultry duet and the 1976 film in which she starred alongside Joe Dallesandro, the garment of the moment is undoubtedly the long black coat she donned in the Parisian scene outside the Eiffel Tower. Directed by Gainsbourg, the film tells the story of a love triangle, in which Birkin’s good girl character debuts a new wardrobe preset for the role. With a new short haircut, she goes for denim, tank tops, long dresses, and low-top trainers. But in the video for the single, her floor-length black pea coat with an oversized collar and gigantic buttons takes centre stage – a departure from her normal attire, but iconic nonetheless.

An affair with Paco Rabanne

One of the most recognisable images of Birkin and her husband shows the pair in matching disco-ball-esque outfits, designed by none other than the man of the moment Paco Rabanne. As he ushered in a new era for the modern space-age woman, Birkin was the prototype for this new controversial look and pioneered his unconventional pieces into the mainstream. Throughout the 70s she wore his eccentric looks, but here we see the pair wearing shining armour-like mock necks, soon to be iterated into a mini-shift dress. She even cropped her turtle neck so the mini shorts peeked out from underneath, rebelling from the designer’s vision in her own Birkin manner. 

*That* wicker basket bag

Before the Birkin came to fruition, there was the iconic wicker basket bag. Birkin took it everywhere with her and paired the picnic basket with every outfit. She came across it in Portugal in the late 60s as a basic fisherman’s basket and elevated the necessity into French girl luxury. From airport to market to on set, she wore the accessory with basic white tees and washed-out denim jeans in the summer, and big fur coats and hats in the winter.

Barely-there premiere dresses

For many, the accidental transparency of a dress may be a faux pas, but to Birkin, it was a mistake that coined one of the most iconic images of her. To the premier of the 1969 film Slogan where she met her husband, the sheer sweater with a low crew neck and thigh-grazing length became the “naked dress” – long before Kendall Jenner, Carrie Bradshaw, and even Cher wore the likes. Birkin told Vogue Paris “I didn’t realise [the dress] was so transparent. This is the flash effect of the photographer’s camera. If I had known, I would not [have] put knickers on!”

Birkin’s Birkin

Of course, we cannot talk about Birkin’s style without mentioning the Hermés Birkin. The Hermés Birkin was named after the cultural icon, and is still one of the most sought-after pieces on the market since its debut in 1984, pricing at around $10,000 for a basic Birkin 25. The chance encounter that led to the namesake bag happened when the star was sat next to the luxury brand’s chief executive on a plane from Paris to London, and legend has it that the bag was designed on the spot after she ranted about how hard it was to find a purse that fit all her things as a mother of two at the time. Up until the age of 76 years old, she continued to wear the bag – only replacing it when the seams had literally split down the sides. Birkin’s own Birkin had stickers from her travels to the likes of Greece, Palestine, and Israel according to Vogue. It held beads hanging off and its insides boasted a Blackberry, photos of her three daughters, and her make-up, all in one big “mess”. Some of her old Birkins hold pen marks, scratches, and even ruined leather from when she used it as a cushion on her travels. “I always hang things on my bags because I don’t like them looking like everyone else’s,” she explained to Vogue.