I didn’t realise I was so naïve. I thought a jute bag costing £1500 and being touted as a ‘must-have’ accessory for a season was crass consumerism – but that was before I discovered the Hermes Birkin Bag.

One of these iconic classics will set you back anywhere from £20,000 to £50,000 upwards. Can they possibly be worth it?

Functionality

The Birkin Bag was designed to give mothers a practical and stylish way to carry around the necessities of family life (toys, wipes, bottles, spare nappies…). The larger versions are roomy and, being made out of good quality leather, are durable and so will wear in well with use. However, many other bags will meet that criteria without needing to re-mortgage your house or cash in a pension. (Even a £1.5K jute tote bag looks cheap in comparison.)

Quality

According to the Hermes website they are made using ‘a rare heritage leather with unique character’. According to other sources they are handmade. So the combination of high-value materials and craftsmanship possibly do go towards justifying the high price – as long as the workers themselves are well rewarded for their work.

Costly signalling

The peacock has his tail, the bower bird builds a showy nest – and the super rich have conspicuous consumerism.

Costly signalling is where animals (including humans) use extravagant behaviours or characteristics to demonstrate their superiority, often to attract a mate. The greater the excess, the stronger, wealthier and more attractive the signaller is.

Buying breathtakingly expensive bags is just another form of that. Birkin bags are also practically impossible to buy new which makes them even more exclusive – and brings the secondary benefit that once purchased, they tend to hold their price so they can almost be justified as an investment.

This exclusivity also benefits Hermes as it signals to lesser consumers that the products are very sought-after. This means that even though Birkin bags are rarely purchased new, people will be more likely to spend a small fortune on other more attainable Hermes products, such as a silk scarf.

Is the cost justifiable?

We are currently in the middle of a cost of living crisis where many are struggling to meet basic needs such as food and housing. Where people are going hungry, is it morally justifiable to spend more than an average yearly income on a handbag? For me, I’d like to think the answer would be ‘no’ and that I’d prefer to put the money to better use, but, historically, the sharp contrast between extravagance and poverty existing side by side is not new.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, England faced a crisis of poverty: the population had grown by a third and a series of bad harvests meant that food prices soared. Wages had been capped in an attempt to slow inflation but this only resulted in starvation for poorer families. Around this time, Robert Devereaux, second Earl of Essex, and favourite of the Queen, spent £40 on a suit of clothes for a wedding. This might not sound like a lot, but it was enough to buy a cottage back then.

Plus ça change… the poor struggle and the rich spend their money on fripperies. The only change is that now everybody can easily see exactly how extravagant people can be.