If I ever get a Birkin, I'll beat it up.

Why is everyone today so preoccupied with preserving the condition of their pieces without ever putting them to use?

With the sad news of Jane Birkin’s death currently dominating the fashion news cycle, it is no surprise that her eponymous Hermès bag is a topic of conversation as well. Not that this iconic bag isn’t always a relevant reference.

Me personally, I don’t actually want a Birkin bag, I never really have. The way the Birkin has become a sterilized status symbol doesn’t speak to me. I’m not in the market for a five figure bag that sits untouched in a closet behind museum glass. A bag that I precariously carry from place to place, never letting it touch a sticky table or a restaurant chair.

However, if I do ever get a Birkin bag, I’ll be sure to beat it up. It’s what Jane would have wanted.

Jane’s own Birkin was always stuffed to the brim with papers, trash, and random trinkets she collected along her way. The leather was worn and creased and it was overflowing. It was a bag, after all, and it was meant to carry her belongings. She livened the piece with stickers on the front, and with scarves and ropes tied to the handles. She did her “Whats in my bag” interview sitting on the steps and preaching wearability.

Today, many people treat their purchases like relics and artifacts. Shoes sit in closets, never touching the pavement outside or experiencing the slightest smudge on their toe. Bags remain sterile and pristine, gazing down from closet shelves like ancient pottery recovered from an archaeological dig. Why are you buying clothes and accessories if not to wear them?

I’m not saying a don’t care about the condition of my belongings. I keep my boots in their dust bags with the paper stuffing to hold their shape during the summer months. I make sure my sweaters are folded, never hung, and my leather jackets are stored inside out so the colors don’t bleed. When I buy a new pair of sandals or flats, I take them to the cobbler to get a rubber sole to ensure their longevity. And when this sole starts to ebb away I replace it with a fresh one.

But in the end, my boots crease. My bags get a little bent on the handles from where I hold them and a little round at the bottom from the weight they carry. My sweaters may pull, my leather colors will fade from the sun, and my sandals, inevitably, crease. But I don’t mind this, it means I walked in my shoes and carried my belongings in my bags.

I think today we are so preoccupied with status and value, that we forget why fashion is even made in the first place. There is nothing wrong with a collector’s piece, but we have to learn to accept that textiles will change overtime. Sometimes this means they’ll degrade, but sometimes it just means they’ll gain character and be loved.

The Birkin bag is first, and foremost, a bag. And no one knew this better than Jane.

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