Who Was It Girl Jane Birkin, Really?
By Debra Murray
Sourced through Pinterest
When thinking of Jane Birkin, most people picture her iconic wicker basket used as a handbag or her babydoll dresses. Or, of course, the Hermès Birkin bag which was named after her.
But despite being considered a fashion influence, she was also an actress, sometimes-singer, mother, activist, and more. It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin, by Marisa Meltzer, captures the multitude of the it-girl and what made her so memorable, but what I find most important about the biography is that it reminds people she was so much more than her image.
Prior to this, Birkin’s life had not been examined to this extent despite her popularity and it-girl reputation.
“I knew just enough about her that I knew why I was drawn to her,” the author told Women’s Wear Daily. “She was at the intersection of movies and music and fashion; she was an outsider in Paris; she was in the middle of the Swinging ’60s in London but she was also in this sort of loose ’70s in Paris, which are two really exciting eras of culture. But I didn’t know so much about her that I felt like I had a preconceived notion [about her].”
Sourced through Pinterest
I, like many other people, have found Jane Birkin all over my Pinterest and adored her style without too much consideration of who she actually was. The book paints a portrait of Birkin’s life from a young mother and aspiring actor to her rise to fame and multiple marriages, but it also touches on her later years, when she became increasingly vocal about political causes and humanitarian work—an aspect of her life that feels largely forgotten in conversations about her legacy.
However, my main issue with the book is that much of what we learn about Birkin’s life is filtered through the men she was dating. We move from her childhood to a relationship with a much older man, then to her first marriage, and then to her whirlwind romance with Serge Gainsbourg. This approach may be intentional, as one of the primary ways people remember Jane Birkin is through the artists she loved and collaborated with. Still, it can feel distracting. Jane Birkin was not Jane Birkin because of the men she dated, and honestly, her romantic partners feel like the least interesting part of who she was.
Part of what made Birkin so compelling was her resistance to polish. She was shy, open about her insecurities, and often uncomfortable with fame—qualities that only seemed to draw people in more. She never appeared overly curated or distant, and that vulnerability became central to her appeal.
The allure of it-girls is that regardless of what they do—whether they act, sing, dance, or seemingly nothing at all—they still manage to capture attention simply by being themselves. That’s why I pin these women to my “casual looks” Pinterest board or read books about them. It’s probably the same reason you’re reading this.
Sourced through Pinterest
The book is well worth reading if you’re interested in Birkin’s life or fashion more broadly, though it may also be worthwhile to check out Munky Diaries by Jane Birkin herself for a more direct perspective.
Overall, It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin offers a humanizing portrait of someone too often reduced to an image, asking readers to look beyond the basket, the dresses, and the bag—and reconsider who Jane Birkin really was.
