Well known for her acting and singing career in Paris, British-born Jane Birkin has recently died at 76 from currently unknown causes. Her free-spirited attitude and work in both entertainment and fashion have left a strong impact on French pop culture.
Birkin had left what she called a “really miserable marriage” with British composer John Barry when she moved to Paris to work on the 1968 film Slogan. While there, she began a sensational relationship with French actor and singer Serge Gainsbourg that drew attention for a variety of reasons, from the apparent difference in class to the twenty-year age gap. The two collaborated on a series of songs, including the heavily sensual duet “Je t’aime… moi non plus.” The song drew both ire from several countries due to its sultry content and great praise for its intimacy and honesty. According to a tweet from French President Emmanuel Macron, Birkin was a French icon “[b]ecause she embodied freedom, because she sang the most beautiful words in our language.” Even though their tumultuous relationship ended in 1981, Birkin and Gainsbourg remained friends and continued to collaborate on a variety of projects in film and music.
Birkin even impacted French fashion through her creation of the Birkin bag, which became a more prominent household name. During an interview with CNN in 2020, Birkin recounted how she was on a flight to London with the then-chairman of the Hermes company Jean-Louis Dumas when several items spilled out of her Kelly bag. In response, she doodled a design of a new bag on a vomit bag and proposed “a bag that’s sort of four times the (size of the) Kelly that you could just leave open.” Dumas took this pitch to heart and helped create the Birkin bag, releasing it in 1984. Even today, the Birkin bag remains a solid part of the fashion industry, selling rare varieties for thousands of dollars and selling out at a variety of boutiques.
With her death, many people feel like they have lost a crucial icon in French culture. Her daughter Lou Dillion even admits, “Mom represents a very Parisian style, which is funny because she’s not.” Despite this, her life in Paris continues to influence those in the French entertainment industry and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
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