Of Boys And Their Birkins:At Hermès Event, Competition is Fierce

 

A fashion director with a major U.S. department store once advised me to mark the passing of a decade and one’s advanced years (how “advanced” am I?) with an “important” and luxurious gift.

 

He had already “gifted” himself a massive black Kelly bag that seemed to enter the room before he did.

 

At a recent Hermès men’s event at the retailer’s San Francisco store, there were more than a few young men who clearly weren’t waiting for their later years to carry a coveted Kelly or Birkin. The event was clearly targeted to San Francisco’s affluent gay demographic — or at least those who aren’t shy about carrying a handbag.

 

The bronzed, buffed, and polished boyish-types entered as casually as they could, but were oh-so-keenly aware that all eyes were on the luxury bag slung in the crook of their arm.

 

 

 

 

With a starting price of roughly $7,000 (and upwards to $100K or more), you would think one bag would probably be enough. However, tonight raised doubts in the minds of many.

 

 

There were two new arrivals at the store on this balmy evening— a 40cm “Kelly” in olive-brown and a 50cm Birkin in deep Indigo. Within forty minutes, three contenders came forward to claim the bags, each gravitating from one to the other.

 

With white cotton gloves, the sales associate carefully removed the giant Birkin from the vitrine, and one rather sweaty man pawed it and then put it on his arm. It appeared the sale was done. Nevertheless, after wearing it in the store for almost 25 minutes, the bag returned to the counter. Other less likely candidates took the bags out for a spin on the floor, enjoying the attention from admirers.

 

 

 

Largely ignored in the center of the store was the in-house leather craftsman, Dominique Michaux, who was in the process of assembling a fuchsia-pink Kelly. He carefully sewed each piece, fusing the leather seams with a heat-rod, and then painting them with matching dye. It was a strangely mesmerizing process.

 

 

“This is only for demonstration, “ explained Michaux. “Because Hermès bags are only made in France.” This “Theatre of Manufacturing” was for me, the real highlight of the evening, watching the zen-like simplicity of how two hands and a handful of tools can slowly materialize an object that is so sublimely beautiful — and deceptively simple.

 

 

Alas, most at the event were transfixed by a different kind of theatre, the “Theatre of the Purchase.”

 

 

The two bags continued to make their way around the room from one sales associate to another, each hoping that their customer would follow through on closing the sale.

 

 

 

 

 

Enter contender No. 2, a tall, slender Asian man wearing head-to-toe Hermes (and already carrying an Hermès Evelyne shoulder bag) came forward and murmured to the associate that he wished to purchase the 40” Kelly.

 

 

Contender No. 3 quickly replaced him; a young man in a checkered shirt (and Hermes loafers) with dyed red hair and a face powdered an opaque white. He made it very clear he was definitely going to buy the giant Birkin — once his mother wired the money to his account.

 

 

“His mother is also my client,” confided the associate. The man spent the better part of the night on the phone. Like a stock trader, he paced about the store and spoke quietly behind a cupped hand; on his wrist, a diamond bracelet studded with perhaps twenty large baguettes that sparkled as he gestured, in time with the giant diamond studs in his ears.

 

Meanwhile others hovered over the Kelly, caressing it gently as if it were a newborn baby.

 

Across the room, two nearly identical men in beards tried on matching Alligator coats, at approximately $100,000 each. They paused to sip their champagne and admire one another.

 

At last, the young man in the checkered shirt was able to call the Birkin his own. One could only imagine his father in a boardroom somewhere, succumbing to a feverish campaign from his wife and son to allow the wiring of $11,500.

 

By evening’s end, there was little left but empty champagne glasses and two very empty spaces in the main vitrine where the two bags once sat. Through it, we could see Monsieur Michaux working away on a bag that would very likely never be finished.

 

Hermès San Francisco is located at 125 Grant Avenue. For inquiries please call (415)391 – 7200. www.hermès.com.

 

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