The French luxury brand may already be renowned for producing leather-goods with a lofty price tag, but the new bracelet incarnations of Hermes’ famous Birkin, Kelly, Nausicaa and Chaîne d'ancre bags are selling at close to $2 million.
Some would argue that it’s for good reason; the designs took around two years to create and feature intricate detailing. The Kelly bracelet bag has 1,160 diamonds set in rose gold molded in the texture of crocodile skin, and the miniature Birkin is studded with 2,712 diamonds.
The pieces are so elaborate that the bags actually open and close.
Commenting on the opening function Hermes creative director of fine jewellery, Pierre Hardy said, “It's funny because at the same time I wanted them to be real bags, even if, OK, you don't know what you would carry in it.”
Hardy said jewellery models of the brand’s famous bags made sense as a next step into luxury for the brand.
“For me, it was also logical because Hermes is probably - I don't want to offend anyone - the most luxurious brand in the world now,'' Hardy told Fairfax Media.
''There is no challenge at this level, especially for the leather, for the silk. So because jewellery is probably the most expensive and most precious product you can imagine as an object … it was quite logical for me to try to go higher and higher.”
Hardy claimed that between 1,200 and 1,600 hours of labour went into each Kelly and Birkin jewellery piece. Buyers will also be paying for exclusivity, with only three versions of each design produced.
The brand may be claiming a victory in design ingenuity by simply manufacturing the pieces, but will they sell? Even Hermes CEO Patrick Thomas isn’t so sure.
“We are a little crazy here” he said. "I have no idea (who will buy it), but maybe they will have two bodyguards."