Monday, Apr. 02, 2012
Jane Birkin
With her straight bangs, calm stare and gapped teeth, the woman for whom the famed Hermès Birkin bag was named embodied the cool nonchalance of mod London and yeh-yeh Paris in the 1960s and '70s. She was a languid presence in influential movies of the era, from Antonioni's Blow-Up to Grimblat's Slogan, on the set of which she met her most important collaborator, future husband Serge Gainsbourg. Their union yielded one of the era's sexiest songs, "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus"; a style icon for the next generation, their daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg; and perhaps a glimmer of hope among odd-looking artistic boys everywhere that they too could someday seduce the prettiest girl in school.