He sold a Truman Capote first edition for $1,000. He took one of his scarves - purchased years earlier for $99 at Ralph Lauren - and sold it on eBay for $430. Tonello's outrageous story as a Birkin buyer - and reseller, or, as he liked to think of himself, 'leather liason' - began with him living on Cape Cod and jetting off to exotic destinations for fashion shoots 'with a can of hairspray and a powder puff.' He gets an assignment in Barcelona. (To buy the paperback from Amazon, click here. Our good fortune: Michael Tonello is a delightful writer, and 'Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag' is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in years.

It was only a matter of time - and technology - before Michael Tonello came along. It's a venerable truth: Deny the rich what they want, and they'll pay anything to get it. Which only made the Birkin more desirable. Very scarce - at one point, Hermès announced there was a two-year waiting list. Create a luxury item so special it doesn't need a logo. You know: 'This isn't a bag, it's a work of art.' Why? Oh, because each bag required 48 hours of craftsmanship. Not only was it expensive, you couldn't get one. The Birkin bag, however, was in another league. The datebook Jane Birkin used? It now costs $1,025.

Then he named it after her.Įverything at Hermès is expensive. He had his designers make a bag with pockets, and he sent one to Birkin. Her seatmate just happened to the chairman of Hermès. 'I'd love a bag with pockets,' the English singer/actress told her seatmate. Jane Birkin was flying from London to Paris in 1981 when she reached into her bag for her datebook and everything fell out. He spent $350,000 on Birkin bags, among other things.' The buying binge took so long, Jay-Z missed his scheduled lunch at Nello, prompting the restaurateur to deliver his food to the store. A spy reports, 'Jay was in a private room of Hermes doing last-minute shopping.

Her husband, Jay-Z, was spotted shopping at Hermes' plush Madison Avenue boutique on Christmas Eve. OL15964700W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 90.69 Pages 290 Ppi 514 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0061473340 Urn:lcp:bringinghomebirk00tone:epub:5ec8b1fb-e402-486c-82d9-d81892e01e5f Extramarc University of North Carolina Foldoutcount 0 Identifier bringinghomebirk00tone Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t6n022g1p Isbn 9780061473333Ġ061473332 Lccn 2007042550 Ocr ABBYY FineReader 8.0 Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.16 Openlibrary_edition Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:45:39 Boxid IA136418 Boxid_2 CH114401 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition 1st ed.

Bringing home a birkin