Customer Reviews

Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is the equivalent of all those mountain climbing, desert marching, storm sailing adventure books out there, but in this case the sport is shopping. (A sport I like to participate in myself, but my level is junior amateur in comparison.) It is also very similar to chick lit except that in this case instead of the typical spunky, unlucky in love, career, etc waiting for the big break heroine, this hero(ine?) is an openly gay man. who manages to turn a love and a knack for shopping into a business as well as quite a nice life for himself.

The book is subtitled My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag. That handbag being the Hermes Birkin. I have heard a few stories of the famous Birkin waitlist and there was even an episode of "Sex and the City" that featured the same. I have only seen a few Birkins in person on the arms of clearly wealthy women, but they are distinct enough to be instantly recognizable. They are the ultimate elite status symbol.

Mr. Tonello's business involved luxurious travel to major European destinations to purchase Birkins from Hermes shops and then re-selling them on E-Bay from his envy-inspiring apartment in Barcelona. His trials and triumphs are amusing and the hotels and dining he describes could serve as a travel guide. The story works because the author never takes himself to seriously or fails to realize what a charmed life he's leading. Mr. Tonello has an amazing positive attitude self described as "Always half-full, that glass, always." Which is from a section describing a stay in a hospital where he was treated for severe anemia.

A family tragedy brings about the eventual end of his Birkin hunting in the way that kind of thing can do by making you take a look at what you're actually spending your time doing. He could no longer deal with "people who lacked for nothing, but who longed for more" and got himself out before he became that way himself.

So, if you're in the mood for a light-hearted romp through the luxurious side of Europe I think you'll enjoy this one. I definitely did.

I casually picked up a copy after seeing a review in WSJ - and could not put the book down. Michael Tonello's taut narrative held my attention from the first page to the last. I am not a 'fashion person' and would not know a Birkin bag from a sow's ear. What gripped me was the story of how one man constructed his life - moving acress the ocean, creating a business, and enjoying life in the process. I have been recommending this book to my friends.

While reading reviews for this book, one thing you rarely see is the mention that it's also a scathing expose of Hermes' business practices. I also don't think their customers, and in particular those that pay ridiculous secondary-market prices, come off all that well. I'm sure that wasn't the primary intent of the author, but it is silly to pursue a status symbol to the point where you're willing to pay many thousands of Dollars over the regular price just to get a handbag.

What do you get for those thousands? The most well-known symbol for women to say "I've arrived" that's at least marketed by a major luxury firm. It has to be universally recognized, right? It reminds me of teens that say how individual they want to be, but they're really dressing like all of their friends. If everyone wants the same bag, and some women have dozens, does it really retain it's "status" or purported rarity? Doesn't the sheer number of bags that some collectors own prove the fact that they're not rare but rather marketed efficiently?

Hermes, of course, isn't alone in marketing this way, but they must be extremely irritated to have their secrets exposed so easily.

I purchased this book following a glowing recommendation in the New York Times summer reading section. While I was looking forward to the read, I found myself slogging through a weak travelogue. Be prepared, much of the book reads like "went to Paris, encountered rude sales people at Hermes, bought 3 scarves, had a good meal, drank great wine". Repeat this around 25 times, and it gets old very quickly. If you found this book on a discount table, pick it up, but do not pay full prices-it is just not worth it.

Jane Birkin was flying from London to Paris in 1981 when she reached into her bag for her datebook and everything fell out. "I'd love a bag with pockets," the English singer/actress told her seatmate.

Her seatmate just happened to the chairman of Hermès. He was a good listener. He had his designers make a bag with pockets, and he sent one to Birkin. Then he named it after her.

And then the fun began.

Everything at Hermès is expensive. Like: a scarf at $725. Or a leather shoulder bag at $6,500. The datebook Jane Birkin used? It now costs $1,025.

The Birkin bag, however, was in another league. Not only was it expensive, you couldn't get one. Why? Oh, because each bag required 48 hours of craftsmanship. You know: "This isn't a bag, it's a work of art."

Demand soon outstripped supply.

Well, not really. But that was the marketing line. And a genius one at that. Create a luxury item so special it doesn't need a logo. Then make it scarce. Very scarce --- at one point, Hermès announced there was a two-year waiting list. Which only made the Birkin more desirable.

It's a venerable truth: Deny the rich what they want, and they'll pay anything to get it.

It was only a matter of time --- and technology --- before Michael Tonello came along.

Our good fortune: Michael Tonello is a delightful writer, and "Bringing Home the Birkin" is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in years.

Tonello's outrageous story as a Birkin buyer --- and reseller, or, as he liked to think of himself, "leather liason" --- began with him living on Cape Cod and jetting off to exotic destinations for fashion shoots "with a can of hairspray and a powder puff." He gets an assignment in Barcelona. He falls in love with the city. And moves there.

Money, how to make it. He took one of his scarves -- purchased years earlier for $99 at Ralph Lauren --- and sold it on eBay for $430. He sold a Truman Capote first edition for $1,000. He saw the excitement on an eBay board for Hermès scarves, so he sold one of his for a $400 profit.

And then a curious thing happened --- people who didn't get to buy his scarf wrote to ask him if he had more. He went to Hermès in Barcelona, bought two dozen and sold them for a "sizable" profit. He discovered that these scarves cost $30 less at the Hermès store in Andorra, so he made the two-hour drive and bought the first of a thousand scarves he'd purchase there.

Soon he was selling 30 scarves a week.

All because he saw a niche in the market.

All because Hermès didn't yet have a web site.

Inevitably, one of his customers --- who just happened to be songwriter Carole Bayer Sager --- asked if he could get her a Birkin. He had no idea what that was, but once he found out, he was a bag-seeking missile.

How Michael Tonello cracked the code and was able to buy Birkins from Hermès is the centerpiece of the book. It is hilarious - if, that is, you are amused by the foibles of the rich and those who cater to them. It is tender --- if, that is, you can be touched by Tonello's burgeoning friendships with the women who became his best customers. It is even thrilling --- if, that is, your heart rate jumps when a French colleague tries to rip Tonello off and Tonello must Take Steps.

Now? No more waiting list. And now that anybody can buy a Birkin, anyone can sell one.

So much for "special."

What's special is this book. Indeed, it's so much fun you will wonder: where's the movie?

This book is great fun for those of us who COLLECT, or wish we could. It's told by a guy who worked his way up on ebay from selling his old cashmere sweaters to finding and selling $20,000+ Hermes Birkin handbags. He's no artiste when it comes to writing style, but the story has good pacing, amusing anecdotes, and the always necessary side love interest. Plus you'll learn a lot about those ever desirable Birkin bags that most of us can only moon at from the other side of the Hermes shop window. Note: the waiting list is a crock - read this book to find out why. Grade: B

You know a book is good when the premise is selling Birkins, and you really have no idea what a Birkin is, yet are riveted to the storyline from the very first chapter. This book is very entertaining, well-written, and has some depth to it...Loved it. Definitely a great vacation or beach read. And I even searched for Birkins on eBay to capture the thrill of it all, lol. Really fun.

funny, light, engaging...i truly enjoyed the writing style and the photos that accompanied the story

I LOVED this book! I usually do not like reading "memoir-type" books but this book reads like a novel. I literally laughed out loud at several parts. Bringing Home the Birkin is a delightful, fun read - I highly recommend it! I hope Micahel writes a sequel!

I was both pleased and a bit sad to finish Bringing Home The Birkin by Michael Tonello this evening. Pleased because it was another highly entertaining book in my summer reading list. Sad because I wanted to read more.

Bringing Home The Birkin is the real story of how Michael traveled around the world (US, Europe, South America, and a bit of Asia) to find the Birkins for his eBay customers who are obsessed with the famous bags from the House of Hermes. The Hermes Berkin is so famous and desirable mainly for three reasons: top quality (leather & croc), price ($8,000 to $80,000 give or take), and rarity. Rarity was perhaps the key to the story due to the notorious one to two-year waiting list for the Berkin. Rich and famous would not guarantee you a Birkin. Michael, however, found a secret formula to bring home the Birkin for his customers, so he went everywhere - from the largest flagship Hermes store in Paris (24 Faubourg Saint Honore) to the tiny Hermes store in Capri, Italy.

Originally from Massachusetts, Michael decided to move to Barcelona after a make-up gig because (1) he was so much in love with the city and (2) someone promised him a job there. (1) has not changed. As for (2), after signing a five-year lease on his new Barcelona apartment, Michael found out to his amazement and frustration that the job was not gonna happen. Only then had he discovered eBay so that he could sell off some of the items in his closet, including a Hermes pashmina scarf that would change his life forever.

I really love the book because, as much as the Birkin is the main catch of the story, Bringing Home The Birkin is essentially about the human psychology and behavioral economics. We know that a crocodile bag is expensive, but the price of a Hermes croc bag would not be so high if customers did not drool for it. Regardless of how rare the material is, if there were no significant demand, Hermes would simply be unable to charge thousands of dollars for a bag. As if it was not difficult enough for customers to find a Birkin, Hermes made sure it was more the case by different techniques including keeping a waiting list with high-profile customers, putting "Reserved" sign on the only display bag, and limiting the number of Birkins sold to each customer in every purchase. Hermes' strategy and customers' perception worked so well together they proved one thing: in luxury fashion, the intrinsic value of an item is much lower than the value perceived by its customers. Hermes customers made the connection not only between rarity and value but also between rarity and social status. Michael Tonello knew it only too well he went on a journey that led to the most awesomely ridiculous relationships along the line of his eBay business.

Yet, even the most outrageously beautiful dream does not last forever. The last chapter was about Michael waking up from his orange-coated dream. It was quite personal and not as glamorous as the previous chapters, but absolutely my favorite. I almost felt the pain in his words, and he could have made it even more dramatic, but he chose not to. It was simply not his style. When I read his book, I could almost picture him sitting right there telling me the stories. Once he started, I could not stop listening, and once he stopped I wish he would have moved on.

Nonetheless, a good reader must have some patience. I'll be waiting for the next Michael Tonello book. Meanwhile, if you have a sparkling interest in fashion especially in handbags, luxury fashion, and particularly Hermes, I highly recommend this book. And if you ever want to bring home a Birkin, this is a website of "Sarah", one of Michael's customers who turned out to be another reseller - Createurs Deluxe: [...].

You could access some excerpts from the book here: [...]