The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show was a couple weekends ago, and since Fort Lauderdale calls itself the “Yachting Capital of the World,” the best yachts lined the area’s many local waterways for the occasion. Vlad and I love the water, but I am not a huge boat lover; I get easily seasick and end up trying to find my way off the boat. But when I saw that Privé Porter teamed up with VanDutch to offer the ‘ultimate yachtswoman’ deal (a yacht with nearly $2 million worth of Hermès Birkins aboard), I knew we needed to check it out.
Privé Porter was founded in 2008 to serve shoppers looking for hard-to-find designer goods. The team behind the company noticed a void in the Hermès Birkin resale market, and it decided that’s where it would focus its energy; Privé has been growing ever since. The company sets itself apart from other resellers by focusing its efforts on social media, with 80% of sales driven via its Instagram account.
At the boat show, Privé teamed up with yacht company VanDutch to present a collection of several dozen Birkins atop of the VanDutch 55 Pleasure Yacht. The combination was eye-catching, and in the short time we spent on the boat, everyone around us could not stop staring. The bag that Jeff, founder of Privé, was most excited about was an Hermès Braise Shiny Porosus 35cm Crocodile Birkin with 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware, offered at $330,000. The color Braise is extremely rare when it comes to Hermès exotics; it strongly resembles Ferrari red. Jeff told us he believes this bag will break the record for the most expensive handbag ever sold at auction, which was $222,912 at Christie’s in June.
Along with that rare beauty, there were plenty of other one-of-a-kind and sought-after Birkins, encompassing a range of size and leather options. A very unique custom display case was built to sit atop of the back of the VanDutch 55 pleasure yacht. which is used by most of its owners as a day yacht. The 55 retails for $1.7 million, and the bags were valued at over $2 million, with the entire thing offered as a package for a cool $4 million.
The end result was one of those experiences that mostly felt like it couldn’t possibly be happening in real life, though many of my dreams do involve being surrounded by beautiful Birkins. Privé has an extensive collection of Hermès bags and if you are in the market, you definitely want to follow the company’s Instagram account.
Check out our photos of the yacht and its Birkins below.
i hate that they display them like that ………………..
Wow. The bags are so beautiful.
Pretty bags, but the plexi display and the boat are hideous. Birkin would be more deserving of a mahogany boat with white and black detailing and a teak display for the bags…
I think this is so cool! What a neat experience!
The owner of PP, Michell Berk, went psycho on me. I started to order a Birkin 35 from her. However, upon researching Prive Porter and her name, I came across new stories of her past (as the Hollywood Madam who replaced Heidi Fleiss). I told her I was no longer interested in the bag and she asked why. I simply told her I read some news stories that didn’t sit well with me. That was when she WENT OFF! Ranting via text about wanting to know what I read, how she is so rich and more beautiful than me, cursing, telling me never to contact her again and still texting me repeatedly…very crazy stuff. I guess that confirmed for me that I made the right decision to not buy from her.
Very tacky display
I very much like the idea, and the Birkins are beautiful, but this yacht itself is not good (yes, I know, it is super expensive, but still, it is just the wrong kind of boat). And neither is the plexi glass.But hey, at least they tried something different, that in itself if very good.
Maybe switch the plexiglass to actual glass and you’d have a display worthy of a brand like Hermes. But this was a very interesting idea, IMHO.
Lordy–is this ever tacky! And the boat is ugly too.
Very arriviste. I wold say they got it wrong here.