After suffering a stroke in September 2021, Jane Birkin was forced to cancel the concerts she had planned for that year. Her health problems persisted, leading her to cancel and postpone more performances later. On Sunday morning a caregiver found her at her home, AFP reported.
Born in London, Jane Birkin rose to fame at the end of the 1960s, standing out for her participation in films such as Jack Smight’s “Kaleidoscope” and Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” in 1966. Throughout her career, the actress participated in more than 60 films, including outstanding titles such as “La Piscine”, “The Pleasure Pit”, “Death on the Nile” and Agnès Varda’s “The Hundred and One Nights”. In addition, in 2007, he directed his own film, “Boxes”, presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
One of the most emblematic moments of her career was her daring duet “Je T’aime…Moi Non Plus” with French singer Serge Gainsbourg, which caused controversy and was censored at the time. This contributed to her growing popularity and cemented her as an icon in both music and fashion.
The Paris-based Briton left a legacy of singular style that blended English eccentricity with French insouciance. Her iconic way of dressing was at once demure and sexy, relaxed and elegant. She pioneered the “nude dress” trend and popularized nipples as accessories in her personal wardrobe. Her impact on pop culture can be traced from her Cannes appearances to Rihanna’s red carpet retort of “Do my boobs bother you?”. In addition, her style has been a prototype for models and celebrities of the 1990s and 2000s, such as Kate Moss and Alexa Chung, who adopted her casual attitude and combination of boho and indie sensibilities.
The famous Birkin bag was given its name in 1984 after a chance meeting between Jane Birkin and then Hermès CEO Jean-Louis Dumas during a flight from Paris to London. During the conversation, Birkin shared her desperation to find a bag that suited her needs as a young mother. At the time, she was carrying her iconic wicker basket, and as she spilled the contents of her hand luggage, Dumas suggested that she should have an Hermès bag that met her specific space and pocket requirements. Taking this idea as inspiration, Dumas designed a bag that perfectly matched the actress’s specifications.
The Birkin bag quickly became one of the most desired accessories in the fashion world and is known for having waiting lists as exclusive as the bag itself.
In honor of the beloved actress and singer, we take a look back at some of her most iconic looks.
The premiere of Slogan, 1969
This iconic sartorial moment occurred at the premiere of the French film “Slogan” and marked a before and after in the history of the “naked dress.” Jane Birkin commented to Vogue Paris, “I hadn’t realized that [the dress] was so transparent. It’s the effect of the photographer’s camera flash. If I had known, I wouldn’t have worn panties.”
The Artists Union Gala in Paris, 1969
One of her most iconic moments was at the 1969 Artists Guild Gala, where she surprised everyone by wearing her long crochet dress backwards, with a brooch cleverly placed in her navel.
Shopping in Paris with her wicker basket, 1970
The quintessential Birkin accessory is the wicker basket. In the 1960s, Jane acquired this famous Portuguese basket in a London market, and since then, it became her inseparable companion. It accompanied her on all her trips to the supermarkets of Paris, on her nights out with Serge and even on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival. In the early 1980s, her husband, Jacques Doillon, damaged her when he backed his car into her on purpose, leaving her practically destroyed.
Paco Rabanne, 1972
Jane Birkin was one of the great muses of the enfant terrible of French fashion, who was the architect of some of her most memorable looks. Rabanne created a micro-dress specifically for Jane, which revealed a few centimeters of her underwear, as she herself revealed in an interview with Medine.
Hermès Spring 2000, 1999 runway show
The historic connection between Jane Birkin and Hermès manifested itself once again on the spring 2000 runway, when Jane was invited to walk the runway. With a charming smile, she presented a look that could perfectly well have come out of her own closet: an oversized white T-shirt, a V-neck sweater and pants, designed by Martin Margiela.
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