The Original Indie Queen: Jane Birkin

“When you’ve got nothing left, all you can do is get into silk underwear and start reading Proust.”

Jane Birkin made rose to prominence as part of London’s swinging art scene, appearing in art films like Blowup and Wonderwall, but true stardom didn’t arrive until her collaborations with French singer and actor Serge Gainsbourg in Slogan (1969), from which emerged the hit duet, “Je t’aime.” As such, Birkin spent the late sixties and seventies as the thinking man’s sex symbol, a beautiful actress and sweet singer as concerned with social justice issues as with the maintenance of her bob. Though her work with Amnesty International is famous, today, Birkin is better known as the woman for whom an iconic accessory – the Hermès Birkin bag – was designed.  However you think of her, though, style icon, actress, or humanitarian, there’s no denying her unending elegance and timeless, breezy beauty.