The Franco-British actress and singer, an icon of the sixties and seventies, died on Sunday 16 July at her Paris home on rue d’Assas (Paris 6e), aged 76.
This strong woman and eternal muse of Serge Gainsbourg also inspired and gave her name to one of Hermès’ best-selling bags in 1984.
With her cheeky smile, eternal fringe and irresistible British accent, Jane Birkin was an accomplished artist, the embodiment of an elegant femininity that was both liberated and discreet, an ingénue whose eroticism was assumed but never vulgar.
She was also a committed wife and mother. Firstly, in her blended family, surrounded by her three daughters (Kate, Charlotte and Lou) and concerned with preserving the memory of her beloved Serge, whom she never stopped singing. At the same time, she was deeply involved in various humanitarian associations.
All these qualities make her the perfect ambassador for a French luxury brand as poetic, refined and in tune with the times as Hermès.
Birkin or freedom assumed
Born in London in 1946 to a beloved father – an officer in the Royal Navy – and an actress mother, Judy Campbell, Jane Birkin is one of the many descendants of Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
As she later told Vogue in February 2021, “I’m English and I come from a background where I was always comfortable (…) I could have dinner with anyone and eat my salad with my fingers. I was never concerned about whether things were done or not“.
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