Even before her serendipitous collaboration with Hermès, Birkin was already a true fashion icon who inspired a whole generation of women worldwide with her chic but effortless sense of style.

Her warm gap-tooth smile, messy fringe, ability to wear denim elegantly in every situation, and hand-woven straw basket from Castro Marim—which she wore everywhere and with every outfit, from the market to formal events, before her partner at the time, French director Jacques Doillon, intentionally ran over it with his car—had made her the It Girl of her time.

Birkin was also celebrated for her political and social activism. From her early years of participating in protests against capital punishment on the streets of London to her dedicated support for women’s rights in the 1970s, especially for the right to abortion, Birkin’s unwavering commitment was evident. It was also unrelenting, and she remained an activist later in life as well.

In 2015, she famously requested to have her name disassociated from the iconic Hermès bag after discovering the “cruel” methods used to procure crocodile-skin during the production of the bags. This was later dropped after the brand promised an investigation into the farm that brought the practice to Birkin’s attention, and found it to be an “isolated irregularity”.

In recent years, Birkin also campaigned for Amnesty International, Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and last year she chopped off some of her hair in support of Iranian women protesting oppressive modesty laws. 

Birkin was also the muse of French singer Serge Gainsbourg in the early 70s. The sulphurous pair, who shared their lives from 1968 to 1980, collaborated on the erotic hit Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus (1969), which was banned by radio stations across the UK, Italy and Spain, and was condemned by the Vatican. 

Despite their creative chemistry, and the daughter they had together—French singer Charlotte Gainsbourg—the couple separated due to Gainsbourg’s alcoholism and violence. While describing him as a “very difficult man to live with,” she created her first ever symphonic concert in tribute to his legacy, which she performed in Hong Kong in 2017.

Although born in the UK, and described as a leading light of “the London scene” in the 1960s, Birkin found fame singing in French and moved to France in the 1970s, where she also left her mark on French cinema. 

This included The Swimming Pool (1969) by Jacques Deray; Cannabis (1970) by Pierre Koralnik; and La Fille prodigue (1980) by Jacques Doillon. Agnès Varda’s docudrama Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988) also proved pivotal to Birkin’s career, as it inspired her to embrace her age (the actress was in her early 40s at the time) and expand her skills. The same year, Birkin and Varda co-wrote Kung-Fu Master, which starred Birkin and was directed by Varda.

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