£6,000 handbag that’s so exclusive you can’t buy one!
COMMONLY spotted hanging off the arm of celebrities like Victoria Beckham, the Kelly bag by French fashion label Hermes costs an eyewatering £6,000.
But if you’ve fallen in love with the design, don’t worry about the temptation of reaching for your credit card – because the brand has no intention of letting you buy one.
While the totes are badges of wealth for the super-rich, ordinary women are effectively banned from purchasing them unless they have already spent thousands of pounds in Hermes and built up a relationship with a sales assistant. Only then might one of the bags be pulled out from under the counter at one of the label’s upmarket boutiques.
The firm appears to be delighted that their bags are hard to get hold of, as their rarity only helps to confirm the label’s reputation for exclusivity and desirability.
The Kelly, named in honour of actress Grace Kelly, and the Birkin – named after British singer Jane Birkin – are both so sought after that they have even been touted as a better investment than gold or shares. For unlike a new car or piece of jewellery, they immediately appreciate in value, particularly if kept in pristine condition.
So although the asking price for a Kelly is £5,900 for a 28cm version or £6,220 for a 32cm version, a seller on eBay is currently taking bids for a crocodile-skin version, which they purchased in 2007, for £28,999. And last month, a rare Hermes Birkin handbag decorated with white gold and diamonds was sold for a record $298,000 (£207,000) – an alltime high for any handbag.
The brand’s website boasts: ‘A Kelly is a rare and precious thing. It is for sale only in our shops, since, to select the right one for you, you have to see it, smell it, touch it, or order it from an informed salesperson.’
And auction house expert Max Brownawell explained: ‘These bags are not available to your average woman. She can’t just walk into Hermes and buy it. Hermes won’t sell these bags to just anybody. You’d have to have a long-standing relationship with one of their sales associates.’
Matthew Rubinger, from Christie’s office in Hong Kong – where Chinese buyers will happily pay tens of thousands of pounds for a Hermes Kelly or Birkin – added: ‘They have the best craftsmen in the world, they work with the best materials, and they make as many as they can make, and that’s it.’
He went on to say: ‘We are servicing the very top of the market and at the moment that is very heavily driven by Hermes.’ Yesterday a spokesman from Hermes stressed that the number of bags it can produce is limited because there are only a small number of craftsmen who have the necessary skills to make them.
They pointed out that a single worker takes 18 to 25 hours to make each Kelly bag by hand while the bigger Birkin takes even longer, insisting: ‘Our production remains highly dependent on the knowhow of our artisans.’