Who was Jane Birkin? A new book dissects the life of the archetypal ‘It’ girl
The woman whose practicality and style inspired the iconic Hermès bag was also a complicated character who struggled to be taken seriously
Meltzer documents the British-born Birkin’s life as a case study in public perception and its parasocial nature, while wrestling with self-perception, selfhood and womanhood all at once: “She once said she preferred being naked on the beach because people would recognise her less easily.”
Rather than dwell on everything Birkin embodied to the general public, which has been done many times over, It Girl delves into the mind of a woman who’s been frozen in time and imagery, divulging the secrets behind those famous public moments that she locked away in her meticulously kept diaries. “She could be neurotic, she could be jealous, she could be really angry,” says Meltzer during an interview, “[and] intense about her career.” Discovering who Birkin really was in private might have threatened to strip away some of the magic that made her an “It” girl. Yet what the book reveals is an everywoman – layered, complex, and still worthy of the adoration and respect.
“This is a complicated woman who’s making her own decisions,” continues Meltzer. Entire chapters are devoted to Birkin’s all-consuming views on relationships and her unconventional style of parenting, which included famously toting around her newborn daughter in nightclubs.
In every aspect, Birkin is presented as dichotomous. She was seen as “very candid” in interviews but sometimes seemed guarded too, particularly in the context of her relationship with Gainsbourg and their dramatic arguments. Privately, she downplayed disputes that others might even perceive as incidents of domestic violence, and took the blame. Publicly, she would contradict herself – and what we saw in the media – by refusing to self-victimise: “I am frightened by the fact that violence does not scare me,” she once said in a 1988 interview.
Then there was Birkin’s accidental naked dress moment; her distinctly casual, bohemian outfits; and the seemingly effortless sense of personal style she became known for – “that X-factor insouciance she brought”, Meltzer calls it, which she adds is “hard to give credit for, because on paper she was [just] wearing jeans or a T-shirt”. That stood in stark contrast to what could be argued as Birkin’s shaky sense of self, resulting from her serial monogamist, codependent ways, until her extended period of singlehood in her forties.