Since making its debut on the arms of actress Jane Birkin in 1984, the Hermès Birkin is one of the most coveted handbags in the world, usually seen in the clutches of the rich and the richer. For more than 20 years, the Birkin has become a status symbol for wealth and fashion power. Common people like you and I usually admire from afar. Even if you are willing to shell out the minimum $7,000 US, your name has to reach the top of the legendary two-year waiting list before purchasing one. Unless, of course, your name is Michael Tonello, or if you read his new book, Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag (HarperCollins Canada, 272 pp.).
In Bringing Home the Birkin, Tonello offers a peek into the world of haute couture and high society. He shares the story of his true adventure in which he moved from Massachusetts to Spain, and inadvertently became a successful Hermès reseller on EBay. Prompted by client Carole Bayer Sager’s desire to buy a Birkin, Tonello cracked the Hermès code and discovered a “formula” for getting not just one, but hundreds of bags.
“It’s difficult to say,” he says, when asked how many Birkins in total he got. “During the first couple of years I kept very bad records, because I never really thought of it as a business. I truly just stumbled into it,” says Tonello. “What I can tell you is that in 2005 between September and Christmas, I bought about 130 Birkins, and during that same year I spent about $1.6 million at Hermès.”
Tonello never divulges how much money he profited from his business, but while scouring Hermès stores around the world, he only stayed at five-star hotels, frequented only the finest bars and restaurants, and owned a wardrobe worthy of the thousands he would spend in any one of many shopping sprees. As Tonello describes in the book, these business expenses were all part of getting his hands on the golden bag. After all, a Hermès salesperson must deem you worthy enough to even consider showing you a Birkin. The bag is handcrafted with the finest leathers, such as crocodile; precious metallic hardware such as palladium; and on the really fancy ones, there might be a diamond or two. However, its allure is also credited to Hermès’s marketing strategy of branding the Birkin as one of the most exclusive handbags in the world. “It is definitely smart marketing combined with the celebrity angle and, of course, people wanting what they can’t have,” says Tonello.
Hermès does not look fondly upon the resale of its bags, although it is perfectly legal. The company goes to great lengths to maintain the exclusivity of its products with waiting lists and reserved signs. Hermès has not directly contacted Tonello since the release of his book, but near the end of his reselling career, one of the Hermès stores he frequented in Paris stopped selling him product: “Owing to serious problems with the supply of skin qualities necessary to the manufacture of your items as well as of production, we are really sorry to inform you that we have today no other options than cancelling your orders….”
Bringing Home the Birkin is an entertaining account of Tonello’s five-year career travelling to the world’s most glamorous cities in search of the infamous handbag. He colourfully describes meeting all sorts of characters from celebrities to obsessed collectors, tyrant Hermès salespersons and thugs who help him rescue a bag. In the midst of his shopping adventures, Tonello mixes in intimate stories about his family, friends and finding true love. Full of witty banter and charming storytelling, Birkin is a great summer read.
