WHY IT’S THE ACCESSORY TO DYE FOR

THE reason yesterday’s Himalaya Birkin bag fetched so much money is because its colour graduation means it cannot be dyed in a computeroperated process like most of the skins at the Heng Long tannery.

‘The Himalayan is considered the pinnacle of the collectable handbag market because it has such a technically difficult dyeing process,’ explains Rachel Koffsky of Christie’s. ‘The colour is completely removed from the skin, which is what achieves the beautiful white centre of the bag.’

How exactly this process is achieved is a closely guarded secret, but the bag is almost certainly dyed by hand — a process that takes weeks.