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The first of the “It” bags, the Hermès Kelly bag has a long and storied history rich in glamour, royalty, and supreme quality. In fact, a chronicle of 20th-century fashion would not be complete without the Hermès Kelly bag history. The First Hermès Bag The Hermès Kelly bag history began in 1892 when the atelier released the Haut à courroies. It was the first time the design house, devoted to manufacturing exquisite...

The history of the Birkin bag is one filled with legend and happenstance. Before the Birkin bag, Hermes was already well-established as a house of luxury leather goods, catering to their elite clients’ needs. Today, of course, with the preeminence of the Birkin, Hermès has become the preeminent luxury handbag design house — the maker of the most coveted handbags on earth.  This story begins in 1983, with the chance encounter between It-Girl Jane...

For decades, Hermès fans’ fiercest debates surrounded choosing between Birkin and Kelly bags. Often, the key points were comparing the relaxed, casual flair of the Birkin with the greater polish and elegance of the Kelly bag. Yet this comparison was truly based on contrasting the Sellier style Kelly with the “inside-out” construction style of the Birkin, known as Retourne.  While the Kelly bag has been available both in...