Jane Birkin drops request to have her name removed from Hermès handbag

Actress and singer Jane Birkin is now satisfied with how luxury group Hermes treats crocodiles and has dropped her request to have her name removed from its iconic handbags, the French company said on Friday.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.
 

Actress and singer Jane Birkin is now satisfied with how luxury group Hermes treats crocodiles and has dropped her request to have her name removed from its iconic handbags, the French company said on Friday.
Hermes said it had identified an "isolated irregularity" in the slaughter process at a crocodile farm in Texas and had warned the farm it would cease any relations should it continue to neglect its recommended procedures.
"Jane Birkin has advised us that she is satisfied by the measures taken by Hermes," Hermes said in a statement. Birkin could not immediately be reached for comment.
Birkin said in July she had asked Hermes to rename its Birkin Croco bag until the firm adopted what she said were practices that meet international standards for the production of the bag.

 

The Hermes Apple watch is here just like you wanted

The Hermès Apple watch has arrived - an item you never knew you wanted, but now lust for more than Michael Fassbender.

PA Photos

It was only a matter of time before the fashion industry got in on the Apple watch action, but Hermès' involvement is slightly more surprising, as a fashion house steeped in tradition, history and discreet elegance.
"Apple and Hermès make very different products, but they reflect the deep appreciation of quality design," said Apple's chief design officer Jonathan Ive. "Both companies are motivated by a sincere pursuit of excellence and the desire to create something that is not compromised. Apple Watch Hermès is a true testament to that belief."

So, for those who have $1250 (£800) to spend, what can we expect? Each watch will come engraved with the label's signature; the watch straps will be made in Paris with Hermès' Barenia leather; and the typeface can be altered to the brand's famous orange shade.
The collection will be available from October 5. Here's six stars who we think will be clamouring for one ASAP:

• Kim and Kanye West
• Lewis Hamilton
• David Beckham
• Scott Disick
• Cristiano Ronaldo

Beware of Authentication Sites

Many sites, such as this one (shown below), often give out misleading if not totally incorrect information. Also question who owns such sites and what their ulterior motive might be.

Hermes Alligators / Crocodiles PETA Petition

So this petition popped up on my radar today. Umm what about Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Nancy Gonzalez, Prada, ets (the list is long)...do their crocodiles/alligators live in condos and die of natural causes?
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A single Hermès Kelly bag made from baby alligator skin costs $43,000. But the price these alligators and crocodiles pay is far greater. Their short lives are spent packed in fetid pools and dank, dark sheds without sunshine, fresh air, clean water, or basic medical care.This misery ends with their inhumane and unthinkably painful slaughter, after which only their bellies are used for these luxury goods.
Join me in asking Hermès help put a stop to the unethical farming of alligators and crocodiles, and discontinue use of these skins in their products.
At just one year old, baby alligators are shot with a captive-bolt gun and crudely hacked into while still conscious and fully able to feel pain. All for a “luxurious” watch band that rarely even lasts a year. PETA has documented this horrifying abuse and slaughter at farms in Zimbabwe and Texas, which contract exclusively with Hermès. You can watch their gruesome video here.
Alligators and crocodiles are highly intelligent and social animals. They work together to capture their prey. They have even been recorded using tools to hunt. They are devoted mothers, who stand guard over their eggs for months and stay with their babies for years. In the wild, their life expectancy is longer than humans’. But the fashion industry kills them in cold blood when they are no more than three years old.
Hermès has a die-hard and devoted following. They could do so much for animal welfare by ending their contracts with these cruel farms and announcing they will no longer use alligator and crocodile skins.
I am calling on animal lovers everywhere to help stop this carnage posing as “luxury.”Please join me in asking Hermès to take the higher ground, and discontinue its support of cruel alligator and crocodile farming.

Hermes Birkin bag for sale at Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH

$12,999
Bizarre.

Birkin bag: from status symbol to badge of shame

The ne plus ultra of luxury fashion status symbols is the target of a take-down by its celebrity namesake.
The crocodile Hermès Birkin bag, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, has spawned waiting lists of lore and is carried like a trophy by celebs from Oprah to Lady Gaga, is at the center of a controversy that has the power to affect the future of luxury fashion.
In case you missed it, British model/singer Jane Birkin is demanding that the bag be renamed, after she learned about the cruelty to crocodiles used to make the bags.
"Having been alerted to the cruel practices endured by crocodiles during their slaughter for the production of Hermès bags carrying my name....I have asked Hermès Group to rename the Birkin until better practices responding to international norms can be implemented for the production of this bag," Birkin said in a statement published at Peta.org.
Her response came after she viewed the animal rights organization’s stomach-turning expose “Belly of the Beast,” which looks at the farming and slaughter of reptiles in undercover videos from Texas and Zimbabwe farms, including a scene where a crocodile is sawed open alive. The skins are not only used for bags, but also shoes and watch bands.
Hermès has denied that the farms in the video are theirs, and issued a statement saying, “Hermes respects and shares her emotions and was also shocked by the images recently broadcast.” The bag was created by former Hermès executive Jean-Louis Dumas ‎in 1984.
But that hasn't quieted the outrage, which PETA has been stoking for several weeks by organizing protests around luxury shopping districts, promoting thehashtag #killedforhermes on social media and teaming up with the group Freedom of Animals to create a mockcroc, vegan "Virkin” bag, selling for $400, with 20% of sales of the style to be donated to PETA. (PETA gifted the bag to at least one celeb and Birkin collector, Victoria Beckham, in hopes of getting her to turn on the brand, according to the Daily Mail in London.)
ocial media’s court of public opinion ‎has mostly applauded Birkin's high-profile diss, with some Twitter users calling her a "fashion hero."
The controversy is interesting for a few reasons. Animal rights protesters used to be a mainstay at fashion weeks in New York and Europe, storming the runways with predictable regularity at high-profile shows by Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier and others. But in recent years, they have been largely silent as PETA shifted its message online to social media. This controversy is a victory for the group, which has half a million Twitter followers, and further proof of how celebrity shaming can be a tactic to promote outrage and activism.
It could also signal a tipping point in the trend of ethical consumerism, and how it will define the future of luxury. So far, the discussion has centered around sustainability, with images of the Rana Plaza factory disaster in Bangladesh, and the recent film “The True Cost” increasing shoppers’ awareness of the human and environmental toll of consumption.  The Hermes Birkin controversy is expanding the discussion to include fashion’s toll on the animal kingdom in the most high-profile way, by targeting the very symbol of luxury, the vaunted Hermes brand.
Whether all of this influences the Hermes bottom line is another story.
Forty-five percent of the French luxury goods firm’s sales come from leather goods, including crocodile, ostrich and calf, and the Birkin is the brand’s most famous design. Waiting lists for the bags, which are made by hand, are legendary, with shoppers waiting months to pay six figures for the coveted carry-alls. Several books have been published about the phenomenon, including “Bringing Home The Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Handbag,” in 2009.
In recent years, though, the ostentatious style has been so overexposed in paparazzi photos and on reality TV that it’s almost become outre. Last year, many pop culture observers gagged when Kanye West gave Kim Kardashian an Hermes Birkin bag for her 34^th birthday that had been hand painted by their 1-year-old daughter, North. And in 2010, Lady Gaga made headlines for defacing her white Birkin with a Sharpie.
Meanwhile, Hermes has been downplaying flash in favor of a more stealth-wealth look. And when Hermes’ newly appointed design director Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski (who came from The Row) showed her first collection for the brand at Paris Fashion Week in March, there wasn’t a Birkin to be seen on the runway. Instead, the collection was quiet and minimal, right down to the new, structured Octogone handbag.
Will this be the beginning of a true movement away from trophy bags in exotic skins or a momentary social media blip? Will the Birkin bag go from status symbol to badge of shame? Only time will tell.

http://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ar-birkin-bag-20150729-story.html
booth.moore@latimes.com

Hermes Vancouver store robbed, truck driven through window

Around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, the Hermes Vancouver store on Alberni Street in downtown was broken into as a truck was driven into the storefront window.
The individual (unknown how many people were involved) then broke the store’s security camera and stole merchandise, according to repair workers.