Hermes Handbags and Purses

Did you miss last fall’s documentary on Hermes craftsmanship and the people who make it possible? So did we, but fret not, the Internet is a wondrous place full of second chances. (And cat pictures. Second chances and cat pictures.) If you’d like a chance to peer behind the curtain and see what happens in Hermes workshops and meet the people who make the world’s finest leather goods, Hermes.com now has the documentary, in its entirety, available for streaming. For a little taste of what it offers, check out the teaser above. If you decide to watch it, we guarantee you that this is the only thing you’ll ever get for free from the Hermes website.

When you’re a brand with a rabid, slavish following like French leathergoods giant Hermes, it’s important to think outside the box in order to both maximize profits and cater to your very particular customer’s every need. With quarterly growth in the double digits since time immemorial, Hermes has taken a page out of the Louis Vuitton book and now brands everything under the sun, including the simplest of writing implements: the pencil.

Fancy-pants pens have long been a hallmark of the luxury industry, but the leather-wrapped Hermes Arlequin H Pencil is something different entirely. Pens can be refilled with fine ink and passed down from generation to generation; pencils, on the other hand, are meant to be used up in short order by virtue of their very construction.

Hermes Steeple Canvas Horse Tote, $2700 via Hermes (for now)

Hold on to your horses, folks. Or at least hold on to your Hermes Steeple Canvas Horse Totes – prices for the most expensive handbags in the world are about to get even higher.

Leghila Neoprene B-Bag Tote, $375 via Luisa Via Roma

Around here, we have plenty of fun pointing out those companies who seek to ride each others’ design coattails to financial and sartorial success. Almost every company, big or small, well known or not, fits that descriptor from time to time, but then there are those who take the whole enterprise up several degrees of magnitude. When that happens, we get bags like the Leghila Neoprene B-Bag Tote.

Image via Heritage Auctions

If you were to ask any handbag lover what the most expensive handbag to ever sell at auction was, I’m pretty sure that we’d all guess the same thing: an Hermes Crocodile Birkin with White Gold & Diamond Hardware. It just makes sense; not only are Hermes bags (and Birkins in particular) notorious for holding their value and doing well at resale, but a crocodile Birkin with diamond-encrusted hardware is one of the most elusive and expensive collector’s items in the world.

When a friend alerted me a few weeks ago that a Dallas auction house was set to put a group of rare Hermes bags on the auction block, I told her than the estimated $80,000 price for the “Hermes Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware” (as the auction house called it) you see above sounded a bit low; I guessed that it would go in the $100,000+ range. That being said, even I am a bit shocked at the price this bag actually sold for earlier this week…

WGACA Hermes Vintage Crocodile Bags, $8000 ShopBop here and here

If you’re not familiar with vintage powerhouses What Goes Around Comes Around, you should be. The New York-based retro aggregator, often abbreviated WGACA, searches out and resells some of the best pre-owned duds in the country, and today, that includes two lovely Hermes Vintage Crocodile Bags that are up for grabs via ShopBop. They’re very Betty Draper, right? Or maybe they’re more Trudie Campbell…

Hermes Cup Cozy, $190 via Hermes

File this under: Things I Never Expected to See.

Hermes makes a lot of unexpected products; the company has done a great job transitioning from a leather goods brand to a full-on, ultra-luxury lifestyle brand, and with that comes unexpected pieces (flask, anyone?) to help Hermes devotees spread the French leather love into all areas of their lives. Now, with the Hermes Cup Cozy, you can Hermes-ify your day from the very beginning with your morning cup of coffee. After all, who wants to wrap their $5 latte in cardboard? That’s so pedestrian.