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It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Town & Country • Harper’s Bazaar • W Magazine • Bustle • LitHub • Women’s Wear Daily
The first comprehensive biography of Jane Birkin—actress, singer, and legendary style icon—and her profound cultural impact, from the “acerbic, culturally astute, and genuine” (The New York Times) author of the instant New York Times bestseller Glossy.
Jane Birkin was synonymous with chic. Her effortless style and artistic legacy have been immortalized through her music and film career. And, of course, she was the inspiration behind one of the world’s most coveted bags, the Hermès Birkin. But who was the real woman behind the it girl?
Now, New York Times bestselling author Marisa Meltzer sheds new light on Birkin’s enigmatic life and explores her profound influence on generations in a rigorously reported biography unlike any other.
It Girl paints a vivid portrait of Birkin and her profound legacy, from her early years in 1960s London to her rise as a beloved celebrity in France, detailing personal challenges, her relationships with creative powerhouses, and the duality of her public and private selves. Based on interviews and deep archival research, Meltzer reveals the nuances of Birkin’s her famously tempestuous romantic relationships, life with her three famous daughters, and the creative energy that drove her. It Girl tells the story of her indelible impact on femininity and style, and how what we think of as French girl style grew from her. Far from being just a muse, Birkin is at last given her well-deserved due.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Town & Country • Harper’s Bazaar • W Magazine • Bustle • LitHub • Women’s Wear Daily
The first comprehensive biography of Jane Birkin—actress, singer, and legendary style icon—and her profound cultural impact, from the “acerbic, culturally astute, and genuine” (The New York Times) author of the instant New York Times bestseller Glossy.
Jane Birkin was synonymous with chic. Her effortless style and artistic legacy have been immortalized through her music and film career. And, of course, she was the inspiration behind one of the world’s most coveted bags, the Hermès Birkin. But who was the real woman behind the it girl?
Now, New York Times bestselling author Marisa Meltzer sheds new light on Birkin’s enigmatic life and explores her profound influence on generations in a rigorously reported biography unlike any other.
It Girl paints a vivid portrait of Birkin and her profound legacy, from her early years in 1960s London to her rise as a beloved celebrity in France, detailing personal challenges, her relationships with creative powerhouses, and the duality of her public and private selves. Based on interviews and deep archival research, Meltzer reveals the nuances of Birkin’s her famously tempestuous romantic relationships, life with her three famous daughters, and the creative energy that drove her. It Girl tells the story of her indelible impact on femininity and style, and how what we think of as French girl style grew from her. Far from being just a muse, Birkin is at last given her well-deserved due.
Kindle Edition
Published October 7, 2025
281 people are currently reading
9551 people want to read
About the author
Marisa Meltzer
5 books167 followersMarisa Meltzer is author of Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music and co-author of How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time. Yes, she really loves the nineties that much.
As a freelance writer, her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Elle, Slate, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, and many other publications. She has covered such diverse topics from why Miley Cyrus is a good role model to which Pride and Prejudice adaptation has the best Mr. Darcy and she's reported on Parisian riots and overachieving New York City high school students.
She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
As a freelance writer, her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Elle, Slate, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, and many other publications. She has covered such diverse topics from why Miley Cyrus is a good role model to which Pride and Prejudice adaptation has the best Mr. Darcy and she's reported on Parisian riots and overachieving New York City high school students.
She is a graduate of The Evergreen State College and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
January 9, 2026
the closest i'll ever get to owning a birkin.
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
this is truly well researched and interesting in subject matter, but the way it’s written is so dry and redundant.
i found myself reading chapters again and again, confused whether i’d misunderstood the densely packed lists of names and dates and publications, only to confirm that yes the same statement was made in consecutive paragraphs and one headline was years out of place.
it's a testament to jane birkin that this was still, often, an enjoyable read.
bottom line: every detail in this book is out of my price range.
(review to come / thanks to the publisher for the arc)
https://emmareadstoomuch.substack.com...
this is truly well researched and interesting in subject matter, but the way it’s written is so dry and redundant.
i found myself reading chapters again and again, confused whether i’d misunderstood the densely packed lists of names and dates and publications, only to confirm that yes the same statement was made in consecutive paragraphs and one headline was years out of place.
it's a testament to jane birkin that this was still, often, an enjoyable read.
bottom line: every detail in this book is out of my price range.
(review to come / thanks to the publisher for the arc)
July 12, 2025
Unlikely to be viewed as definitive but a reasonably researched biography nonetheless. But and this might be grossly unfair, I thought this was more likely commissioned than driven by the author’s passion for her subject. Perhaps because it felt strangely detached, uncertain and muted – as if Meltzer wasn’t entirely convinced by the Birkin she’s constructing here. However, Meltzer makes some insightful observations and she’s adept at structuring key aspects of Birkin’s life from her birth in 1946 onwards; offering up a series of intriguing snapshots of Birkin as English eccentric who, by happenstance, became a symbol of bohemian nonchalance in post-1968 France.
There’s something quintessentially English about Birkin’s early life. She was born into an upper middle-class family, her father was a wealthy, Nottinghamshire business owner, her mother a celebrated actor known for her work with Noel Coward. Birkin’s childhood experiences could be confused with those of a character from a vintage children’s book: distant parents; nannies; difficult boarding-school years; putting on plays with her family during the holidays. Not unusually, for women of her class and generation, Birkin was primarily educated for marriage and motherhood. To a certain extent Birkin followed that script but, according to Meltzer, disappointed her family by choosing the ‘wrong’ husband and following the ‘wrong’ timeline. When barely 18, Birkin married much older film composer John Barry. She had her first child in her early twenties. Meltzer views Birkin’s choices, where men are concerned, as part of a pattern, a distinct preference for older, controlling men: first Barry then celebrity performer Serge Gainsbourg, and later screenwriter/director Jacques Doillon. But I wondered if Meltzer was placing too much emphasis on the earlier stages of Birkin’s life and not enough on radical shifts in later years. Years in which she not only developed a profile in theatre but toured, wrote, directed, and perfected her signature style.
I’d also have liked more sustained reflection on the broader cultural contexts within which Birkin made her so-called choices. I don’t want to deny Birkin agency here but how far could these be said to be purely personal? And how far were they dictated or constrained by coming of age in an era of toxic masculinity and rampant gender inequality? After parting from Barry, Birkin set out to build an acting career in the male-dominated, European film industry. This bias was even more marked in a deeply-misogynistic France where male auteurs, building on the success of French New Wave, continued to hold sway for decades. Birkin was clearly conflicted and uncomfortable about being positioned as femme-enfant and muse, from very early on she struggled against the gender roles and cultural identities assigned to her. It seems especially relevant that, as time passed, Birkin deliberately cast off many of the trappings of conventional femininity, along with her relationships with men, striving for emotional and economic independence, underlined by her adoption of a more androgynous signature style - which remains highly influential.
Many people have only heard of Birkin because of the hugely-expensive, luxury bag that bears her name. So, I appreciated how carefully Meltzer dismantled possible links between Birkin’s lifestyle and the lifestyles the bag now conjures – bag of choice for nouveau riche, American celebrities desperate to flaunt their considerable wealth. But I was surprised by how dismissive Meltzer was of Birkin’s political activism, that’s when she’s not glossing over it altogether. Birkin regularly collaborated on Amnesty International campaigns, spoke out against racism and anti-immigrant narratives in France, was an AIDs activist, and worked to publicise the dire consequences of climate change. Outside of France, Birkin’s biggest fan base is in Japan where she helped to raise money for communities devastated by the aftermath of Fukushima. Overall, not quite what I’d hoped for but highly readable even so.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Atria Books
There’s something quintessentially English about Birkin’s early life. She was born into an upper middle-class family, her father was a wealthy, Nottinghamshire business owner, her mother a celebrated actor known for her work with Noel Coward. Birkin’s childhood experiences could be confused with those of a character from a vintage children’s book: distant parents; nannies; difficult boarding-school years; putting on plays with her family during the holidays. Not unusually, for women of her class and generation, Birkin was primarily educated for marriage and motherhood. To a certain extent Birkin followed that script but, according to Meltzer, disappointed her family by choosing the ‘wrong’ husband and following the ‘wrong’ timeline. When barely 18, Birkin married much older film composer John Barry. She had her first child in her early twenties. Meltzer views Birkin’s choices, where men are concerned, as part of a pattern, a distinct preference for older, controlling men: first Barry then celebrity performer Serge Gainsbourg, and later screenwriter/director Jacques Doillon. But I wondered if Meltzer was placing too much emphasis on the earlier stages of Birkin’s life and not enough on radical shifts in later years. Years in which she not only developed a profile in theatre but toured, wrote, directed, and perfected her signature style.
I’d also have liked more sustained reflection on the broader cultural contexts within which Birkin made her so-called choices. I don’t want to deny Birkin agency here but how far could these be said to be purely personal? And how far were they dictated or constrained by coming of age in an era of toxic masculinity and rampant gender inequality? After parting from Barry, Birkin set out to build an acting career in the male-dominated, European film industry. This bias was even more marked in a deeply-misogynistic France where male auteurs, building on the success of French New Wave, continued to hold sway for decades. Birkin was clearly conflicted and uncomfortable about being positioned as femme-enfant and muse, from very early on she struggled against the gender roles and cultural identities assigned to her. It seems especially relevant that, as time passed, Birkin deliberately cast off many of the trappings of conventional femininity, along with her relationships with men, striving for emotional and economic independence, underlined by her adoption of a more androgynous signature style - which remains highly influential.
Many people have only heard of Birkin because of the hugely-expensive, luxury bag that bears her name. So, I appreciated how carefully Meltzer dismantled possible links between Birkin’s lifestyle and the lifestyles the bag now conjures – bag of choice for nouveau riche, American celebrities desperate to flaunt their considerable wealth. But I was surprised by how dismissive Meltzer was of Birkin’s political activism, that’s when she’s not glossing over it altogether. Birkin regularly collaborated on Amnesty International campaigns, spoke out against racism and anti-immigrant narratives in France, was an AIDs activist, and worked to publicise the dire consequences of climate change. Outside of France, Birkin’s biggest fan base is in Japan where she helped to raise money for communities devastated by the aftermath of Fukushima. Overall, not quite what I’d hoped for but highly readable even so.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher Atria Books
November 26, 2025
Think of Jane Birkin the way history prefers her: basket bag spilling its guts, gap-toothed grin, bangs grazing those expressive eyes, singing orgasmic moans on a banned pop song. Marisa Meltzer's biography peels back that glossy veneer to reveal a woman whose life played out like a French farce written by someone who'd read too much Balzac and watched too many Godard films.
Born in postwar London to a lace-manufacturing dynasty and an actress mother ("too glamorous" for affection, as Birkin recalled), young Jane ping-ponged between boarding school misery and Swinging Sixties London, where she married composer John Barry at eighteen, had a baby at twenty, and got cheated on before the ink dried on the marriage certificate.
The book tracks her flight to Paris in 1968 to audition for a film called Slogan, where she met Serge Gainsbourg, a chain-smoking provocateur eighteen years her senior who looked, according to one observer, "like a badly sewn together fire hose." Their twelve-year relationship produced hit records, two daughters (Charlotte and Lou), endless paparazzi fodder, and enough emotional turbulence to power a small European nation.
Birkin's journals, which Meltzer mines extensively, reveal a pattern: she'd fall for older, volatile men (Barry, Gainsbourg, director Jacques Doillon), endure their infidelities and temper tantrums, then channel the wreckage into her work.
When Gainsbourg died in 1991, Birkin spent decades singing his songs on tour, a kind of ambulatory shrine to their shared mythology, while raising three daughters with three different famous fathers and battling leukemia with the same breezy stoicism she applied to everything else.
The biography wrestles with the muse problem, that age-old conundrum of women whose beauty and presence fuel male genius while their own talents get filed under "charming accessory." Birkin appeared in over seventy films, from Antonioni's Blow-Up (where she wrestled naked with a photographer) to Jacques Doillon's The Prodigal Daughter (where she finally got to play someone clinically depressed instead of whimsically British).
Meltzer pulls no punches about the men in Birkin's orbit: Gainsbourg, who once told an interviewer "I hate women" and later harassed Whitney Houston on live television; Barry, who abandoned his infant daughter to pursue American starlets; Doillon, accused decades later of sexual abuse by another actress.
The famous Birkin bag, that $15,000 totem of aspirational consumption, emerged from a chance airplane encounter in 1983, and Hermes made millions while Birkin got $40,000 a year to donate to charity.
Her children grew up dodging paparazzi and watching their parents stumble home at dawn; Kate Barry, the eldest, battled addiction for decades before dying in 2013 in a fall from her Paris apartment. The book includes Birkin's wrenching admission after Kate's death: "How could I write after that? The carpet had been pulled from under my feet." Her final album, Oh! Pardon tu dormais, released in 2020, features songs like "Cigarettes," which addresses Kate's death with a frankness that earned Birkin comparisons to late-period Bob Dylan and David Bowie.
Meltzer's portrait complicates the fantasy of Birkin as eternal gamine, showing instead a woman who spent half a century trying to escape her own image while simultaneously profiting from it. The later chapters trace Birkin's transformation from pouty ingenue to tuxedo-wearing middle-aged actress who cut her hair short, wore men's corduroys, and directed her own semi-autobiographical film (Boxes, where she played a woman unpacking literal and metaphorical baggage with her three daughters).
Her activism, from smuggling books into war-torn Sarajevo to lobbying President Sarkozy about Myanmar, gets treated with appropriate skepticism: Meltzer notes Birkin once bought Guerlain lipstick for refugees because her mother claimed luxury items lift spirits during wartime.
The book closes with Birkin's final years, riddled with strokes and cancer, still touring Gainsbourg's songs, still signing nude photos from 1969, still trapped in the amber of her own mythology. She died at seventy-six in her Paris apartment, alone for the first time in two years, in what her family obliquely called a choice. The French president declared her "a French icon," but Meltzer's biography suggests a more complicated legacy: a woman whose name became a handbag, whose face sold a million magazines, whose voice made other people rich, and who spent her whole life trying to prove she was more than the sum of her famous relationships, only to discover that history prefers its icons flat, pretty, and frozen in time.
Meltzer understands that Birkin's life raises uncomfortable questions about female autonomy, creative credit, and the peculiar bargain women strike when they become muses to difficult men. The extensive use of Birkin's own journals gives the book its emotional heft; we watch a woman narrate her own subjugation in real time, justifying each slap and infidelity with the breathless logic of someone who mistakes intensity for love.
The structure works because Meltzer tracks Birkin's evolution chronologically while threading crucial themes throughout: the impossibility of aging as a professional beauty, the toxicity of French intellectual culture's romance with transgression, the way capitalism co-opts even the most bohemian lives.
The book gains additional resonance in the post-MeToo era; Meltzer includes the 2020s accusations against Doillon and the French intellectual class's resistance to reconsidering Gainsbourg's legacy. France's clinging to its libertine self-image looks increasingly like a refusal to examine power differentials, and Birkin's lifelong defense of Gainsbourg ("he was sensitive, people misunderstand him") reads as textbook trauma bonding.
Meltzer shows Birkin as genuinely talented, genuinely exploited, and genuinely complicit in her own exploitation, sometimes simultaneously. The biography avoids retrofitting modern feminist consciousness onto a woman who lived most of her life before that vocabulary existed, while still insisting we examine the systems that produced her.
Birkin wanted artistic respect but kept choosing men who'd rather she stay decorative; she craved independence but kept falling for volatile geniuses who demanded total devotion; she recognized the muse trap but climbed back in voluntarily, over and over.
That paradox feels achingly contemporary. We live in an era where young women study Birkin's style on Instagram while remaining oblivious to the depression, the violence, the daughter who died, the cancer, the financial precarity.
The biography's greatest achievement might be its documentation of how thoroughly capitalism monetizes female iconography while keeping the actual women precarious. Birkin became a brand, a mood board, a vibe, and died with less money than a single rare crocodile Birkin bag fetches at auction. The fact that she kept touring into her seventies, partially out of financial necessity and partially out of a desperate need to remain relevant, should infuriate anyone who considers how much wealth Hermes generated from her name while paying her comparative pennies.
That's the story Meltzer tells most powerfully: how the machine takes a vulnerable young woman with talent and beauty, processes her through abusive relationships and exploitative industries, repackages her image as aspirational content, then discards the used-up person while continuing to profit from the mythology. The machine keeps running, and women keep feeding themselves into it, hoping their experience will somehow differ from all the women who came before.
Born in postwar London to a lace-manufacturing dynasty and an actress mother ("too glamorous" for affection, as Birkin recalled), young Jane ping-ponged between boarding school misery and Swinging Sixties London, where she married composer John Barry at eighteen, had a baby at twenty, and got cheated on before the ink dried on the marriage certificate.
The book tracks her flight to Paris in 1968 to audition for a film called Slogan, where she met Serge Gainsbourg, a chain-smoking provocateur eighteen years her senior who looked, according to one observer, "like a badly sewn together fire hose." Their twelve-year relationship produced hit records, two daughters (Charlotte and Lou), endless paparazzi fodder, and enough emotional turbulence to power a small European nation.
Birkin's journals, which Meltzer mines extensively, reveal a pattern: she'd fall for older, volatile men (Barry, Gainsbourg, director Jacques Doillon), endure their infidelities and temper tantrums, then channel the wreckage into her work.
When Gainsbourg died in 1991, Birkin spent decades singing his songs on tour, a kind of ambulatory shrine to their shared mythology, while raising three daughters with three different famous fathers and battling leukemia with the same breezy stoicism she applied to everything else.
The biography wrestles with the muse problem, that age-old conundrum of women whose beauty and presence fuel male genius while their own talents get filed under "charming accessory." Birkin appeared in over seventy films, from Antonioni's Blow-Up (where she wrestled naked with a photographer) to Jacques Doillon's The Prodigal Daughter (where she finally got to play someone clinically depressed instead of whimsically British).
Meltzer pulls no punches about the men in Birkin's orbit: Gainsbourg, who once told an interviewer "I hate women" and later harassed Whitney Houston on live television; Barry, who abandoned his infant daughter to pursue American starlets; Doillon, accused decades later of sexual abuse by another actress.
The famous Birkin bag, that $15,000 totem of aspirational consumption, emerged from a chance airplane encounter in 1983, and Hermes made millions while Birkin got $40,000 a year to donate to charity.
Her children grew up dodging paparazzi and watching their parents stumble home at dawn; Kate Barry, the eldest, battled addiction for decades before dying in 2013 in a fall from her Paris apartment. The book includes Birkin's wrenching admission after Kate's death: "How could I write after that? The carpet had been pulled from under my feet." Her final album, Oh! Pardon tu dormais, released in 2020, features songs like "Cigarettes," which addresses Kate's death with a frankness that earned Birkin comparisons to late-period Bob Dylan and David Bowie.
Meltzer's portrait complicates the fantasy of Birkin as eternal gamine, showing instead a woman who spent half a century trying to escape her own image while simultaneously profiting from it. The later chapters trace Birkin's transformation from pouty ingenue to tuxedo-wearing middle-aged actress who cut her hair short, wore men's corduroys, and directed her own semi-autobiographical film (Boxes, where she played a woman unpacking literal and metaphorical baggage with her three daughters).
Her activism, from smuggling books into war-torn Sarajevo to lobbying President Sarkozy about Myanmar, gets treated with appropriate skepticism: Meltzer notes Birkin once bought Guerlain lipstick for refugees because her mother claimed luxury items lift spirits during wartime.
The book closes with Birkin's final years, riddled with strokes and cancer, still touring Gainsbourg's songs, still signing nude photos from 1969, still trapped in the amber of her own mythology. She died at seventy-six in her Paris apartment, alone for the first time in two years, in what her family obliquely called a choice. The French president declared her "a French icon," but Meltzer's biography suggests a more complicated legacy: a woman whose name became a handbag, whose face sold a million magazines, whose voice made other people rich, and who spent her whole life trying to prove she was more than the sum of her famous relationships, only to discover that history prefers its icons flat, pretty, and frozen in time.
Meltzer understands that Birkin's life raises uncomfortable questions about female autonomy, creative credit, and the peculiar bargain women strike when they become muses to difficult men. The extensive use of Birkin's own journals gives the book its emotional heft; we watch a woman narrate her own subjugation in real time, justifying each slap and infidelity with the breathless logic of someone who mistakes intensity for love.
The structure works because Meltzer tracks Birkin's evolution chronologically while threading crucial themes throughout: the impossibility of aging as a professional beauty, the toxicity of French intellectual culture's romance with transgression, the way capitalism co-opts even the most bohemian lives.
The book gains additional resonance in the post-MeToo era; Meltzer includes the 2020s accusations against Doillon and the French intellectual class's resistance to reconsidering Gainsbourg's legacy. France's clinging to its libertine self-image looks increasingly like a refusal to examine power differentials, and Birkin's lifelong defense of Gainsbourg ("he was sensitive, people misunderstand him") reads as textbook trauma bonding.
Meltzer shows Birkin as genuinely talented, genuinely exploited, and genuinely complicit in her own exploitation, sometimes simultaneously. The biography avoids retrofitting modern feminist consciousness onto a woman who lived most of her life before that vocabulary existed, while still insisting we examine the systems that produced her.
Birkin wanted artistic respect but kept choosing men who'd rather she stay decorative; she craved independence but kept falling for volatile geniuses who demanded total devotion; she recognized the muse trap but climbed back in voluntarily, over and over.
That paradox feels achingly contemporary. We live in an era where young women study Birkin's style on Instagram while remaining oblivious to the depression, the violence, the daughter who died, the cancer, the financial precarity.
The biography's greatest achievement might be its documentation of how thoroughly capitalism monetizes female iconography while keeping the actual women precarious. Birkin became a brand, a mood board, a vibe, and died with less money than a single rare crocodile Birkin bag fetches at auction. The fact that she kept touring into her seventies, partially out of financial necessity and partially out of a desperate need to remain relevant, should infuriate anyone who considers how much wealth Hermes generated from her name while paying her comparative pennies.
That's the story Meltzer tells most powerfully: how the machine takes a vulnerable young woman with talent and beauty, processes her through abusive relationships and exploitative industries, repackages her image as aspirational content, then discards the used-up person while continuing to profit from the mythology. The machine keeps running, and women keep feeding themselves into it, hoping their experience will somehow differ from all the women who came before.
August 27, 2025
Major thanks to Atria Books for sending me an ARC of this in exchange for my honest thoughts:
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘣 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘧𝘪𝘵, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦. 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭.”
You, me, and like many others, we’ve only known Jane maybe from that one Gainsbourg song or that one film she starred so little in. And hell, yes, from the bag, but not much more. She was a woman who always claimed to be an icon, but for so long I had no clue who she was or what she actually did.
Meltzer creates a wholistic profile, hitting all the strong points. Did you know Birkin was originally English? Did you know she was still learning to speak French on the set of La Piscine? Did you know that during the midst of Gainsbourg’s death, her father also passed away? Or how she sold her own Birkin bags to help with the AIDS crisis?
A collection of artifacts from the icon’s life strung together stamped by the creative men in her life as well as the best parts of her diary entries all done in digestible magazine writing. Perfect for anyone curious of Jane’s life and background.
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘣 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘧𝘪𝘵, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦. 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭.”
You, me, and like many others, we’ve only known Jane maybe from that one Gainsbourg song or that one film she starred so little in. And hell, yes, from the bag, but not much more. She was a woman who always claimed to be an icon, but for so long I had no clue who she was or what she actually did.
Meltzer creates a wholistic profile, hitting all the strong points. Did you know Birkin was originally English? Did you know she was still learning to speak French on the set of La Piscine? Did you know that during the midst of Gainsbourg’s death, her father also passed away? Or how she sold her own Birkin bags to help with the AIDS crisis?
A collection of artifacts from the icon’s life strung together stamped by the creative men in her life as well as the best parts of her diary entries all done in digestible magazine writing. Perfect for anyone curious of Jane’s life and background.
July 29, 2025
3.25 ⭐️ | i believe in its initial promise, it girl sets out to paint jane as more than just a muse, but as the author of her own story. but, sadly what it ultimately does in my opinion, is reinforce the narrative it seeks to challenge.
meltzer tries to position jane’s obsessive journaling and self-documentation as an act of authorship. that one day, through her own words, she would be remembered on her terms. but, despite this thesis, the book primarily tells her story through the lens of her romantic relationships. each man serving as a narrative bookend, marking the beginning and end of each chapter of her life, with jane’s identity being shaped by these men, rather than in spite of them.
in the end, because of my lack of knowledge on jane, the book was a page turner, but it left me wanting more of her, and less of the men who framed her.
meltzer tries to position jane’s obsessive journaling and self-documentation as an act of authorship. that one day, through her own words, she would be remembered on her terms. but, despite this thesis, the book primarily tells her story through the lens of her romantic relationships. each man serving as a narrative bookend, marking the beginning and end of each chapter of her life, with jane’s identity being shaped by these men, rather than in spite of them.
in the end, because of my lack of knowledge on jane, the book was a page turner, but it left me wanting more of her, and less of the men who framed her.
January 5, 2026
Maybe like me, your first association with Jane Birkin is the Hermes Birkin bag. If not for The Gilmore Girls, I'm not sure I would know about Birkin bags at all. As Marisa Meltzer shows, there was a lot more to Jane Birkin. Her parents sent her to Paris as a teenager hoping it would give her some direction. She slowly acclimated, marrying an older man, and cultivated an iconic, eccentric style. She made it into French films and music. Meltzer keeps the pace quick and sensitively handles the difficulties Birkin faced. In the epilogue Meltzer alludes to the MeToo movement and "sexual politics" in France. Some (including me) question Birkin's choices in men. Meltzer also discusses Birkin's determination to continue touring when she was extremely ill.
October 16, 2025
look at how they massacred my girl < / 3
jane baby….you deserved so much better.
let’s make it clear from the start that i am not rating jane’s life, she’s my icon & my everything; i’m rating this abysmal attempt at chronicling her life. & it was abysmal.
marisa! we were all rooting for you!!!! this was perhaps my most highly anticipated book of the year & it could not have let me down more. we get a dry, detached, distant retelling of the jane birkin wikipedia page (i would’ve rather read that, tbh!). it felt so impersonal & bland that i’m concerned about why the author would write about something that she clearly seemed uninterested in.
i have a major problem with how this book was structured, considering marisa frames this book as being ‘jane in her own words’, but then proceeds to prop her entire life up against the backdrop of the men she was involved with. “she is painfully aware of her reputation as a perky, sexy sprite who is at her best when she’s inspiring great men.” GIRL. you’re actually kidding. how misogynistic & weird to let your book & ‘research’ fall into the same trap history did in infamizing a woman who was so much more than a muse.
oftentimes while reading I had to remind myself i was reading a book about jane birkin & not one of the men she dated. so much prime page space was taken up with accounts of these men’s actions instead of the spotlight being on who we’re actually here for. if it wasn’t highlighting the men & how jane fell apart at their every move, it was the author spending way too much time on minor public appearances or explaining movie synopses for an entire page. god, what a disappointment.
i did enjoy that the author only spent a chapter on the infamous ‘birkin bag’, as jane herself didn’t enjoy her namesake becoming synonymous with high luxury. she was a wild, free spirit who simply desired a bag to carry the things she had, not inadvertently become a symbol of exclusivity. it never fit her inner narrative & it definitely wasn’t the thing she wanted to be known for. unfortunately however, this book didn’t give us much else to work with in the form of challenging our preconceived notions of jane.
if you’re interested in jane & the woman she was, please please please read her personal journal entries, especially those in ‘munkey diaries’. they give a much more intimate & accurate portrait of the life she led & the things she experienced— in her own words too!
i love jane, her life, & her work. she is my forever girl crush & fashion icon. only wish this biography could have done her justice.
jane baby….you deserved so much better.
let’s make it clear from the start that i am not rating jane’s life, she’s my icon & my everything; i’m rating this abysmal attempt at chronicling her life. & it was abysmal.
marisa! we were all rooting for you!!!! this was perhaps my most highly anticipated book of the year & it could not have let me down more. we get a dry, detached, distant retelling of the jane birkin wikipedia page (i would’ve rather read that, tbh!). it felt so impersonal & bland that i’m concerned about why the author would write about something that she clearly seemed uninterested in.
i have a major problem with how this book was structured, considering marisa frames this book as being ‘jane in her own words’, but then proceeds to prop her entire life up against the backdrop of the men she was involved with. “she is painfully aware of her reputation as a perky, sexy sprite who is at her best when she’s inspiring great men.” GIRL. you’re actually kidding. how misogynistic & weird to let your book & ‘research’ fall into the same trap history did in infamizing a woman who was so much more than a muse.
oftentimes while reading I had to remind myself i was reading a book about jane birkin & not one of the men she dated. so much prime page space was taken up with accounts of these men’s actions instead of the spotlight being on who we’re actually here for. if it wasn’t highlighting the men & how jane fell apart at their every move, it was the author spending way too much time on minor public appearances or explaining movie synopses for an entire page. god, what a disappointment.
i did enjoy that the author only spent a chapter on the infamous ‘birkin bag’, as jane herself didn’t enjoy her namesake becoming synonymous with high luxury. she was a wild, free spirit who simply desired a bag to carry the things she had, not inadvertently become a symbol of exclusivity. it never fit her inner narrative & it definitely wasn’t the thing she wanted to be known for. unfortunately however, this book didn’t give us much else to work with in the form of challenging our preconceived notions of jane.
if you’re interested in jane & the woman she was, please please please read her personal journal entries, especially those in ‘munkey diaries’. they give a much more intimate & accurate portrait of the life she led & the things she experienced— in her own words too!
i love jane, her life, & her work. she is my forever girl crush & fashion icon. only wish this biography could have done her justice.
October 31, 2025
There’s no meat here really. And I wish there were pictures.
November 16, 2025
I learned so much! Such an amazing life!
January 6, 2026
There was so much to Birkin's life that I had no idea about. When I found myself wishing for my detail places, I reminded myself that its not a memoir and Meltzer was at the mercy of journals. I do wish she had the blessing of Birkins family and best friend, which would have made this more conclusive and credible.
December 22, 2025
J’adore!
October 26, 2025
From posing wicker bags to one of the most iconic luxury bags still dominating the high fashion, Jane Birkin had lived quite the colorful life.
November 27, 2025
I’ve seen people label the book detached, flat, and uniterested.
To me, it was a perfectly good and captivating journey through Jane’s life and art.
A main criticism I’ve seen is that Jane’s story is partly told through the men in her life. In my opinion, the great loves of her life and her existence in those relationships are not a reductionist point of view. Rather, I felt like a learnt a lot from her through those descriptions.
Brb when I go watch her movies and listen to her whisper-sung French pop <3
To me, it was a perfectly good and captivating journey through Jane’s life and art.
A main criticism I’ve seen is that Jane’s story is partly told through the men in her life. In my opinion, the great loves of her life and her existence in those relationships are not a reductionist point of view. Rather, I felt like a learnt a lot from her through those descriptions.
Brb when I go watch her movies and listen to her whisper-sung French pop <3
October 29, 2025
Embarrassed to say the only thing I knew about Jane Birkin prior to this book was her namesake the bag. That being said Meltzer is a talented writer and I found the life of Jane Birkin to be very chaotic but fun to read about. (I will say if you are reading for the history of the bag it is 1 sole chapter)
November 11, 2025
- it’s so funny how much jane birkin hates the birkin bag
- this author doesn’t give a FUCKKK about jane. the book was so distant and cold
- all of the men in her life should HAVE BEEN IN JAIL GOOD GOD
- this author doesn’t give a FUCKKK about jane. the book was so distant and cold
- all of the men in her life should HAVE BEEN IN JAIL GOOD GOD
October 20, 2025
This book was a happy surprise. I picked it up because I’m a fan of Marisa Meltzer’s previous work… and tbh, I liked the cover. Though I’ve always known of the Birkin Bag, I knew little to nothing about Jane Birkin. What I came to love most about this book was the exploration of the disconnect between who Jane Birkin was as a person versus how she was perceived as a muse. For much of her life, she was defined by the projections of the men around her, rather than recognized as the creative, complex individual she truly was. In fact, she barely had anything to do with the creation of the Birkin bag — other than being in the right place at the right time. The bag became a true metaphor for how she’s continually shaped by others narratives. It made me appreciate her aptitude for fashion, as it was the only way, during (many) complicated times, she was able to find autonomy.
July 18, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ as a lifelong fan of Jane Birkin, I was very excited for this biography. The biography spans her entire life from childhood, which I personally knew the least about. I did find myself wishing it was more in depth at times in her adult years, there’s just so much to Jane and her life, but I specifically longed for more about her activism and passions for helping other. Overall it’s a fascinating story and I did really enjoy it.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC
November 19, 2025
3.5🌟 the only things I knew about Birkin before this were the bag and her ironic impact on French culture/beauty as a non French person. this was a story type account of her life from beginning to end with some side stories about her lovers and children to help paint a fuller picture. It was super fascinating and cool! I love learning about culture and influence at different times in history & so amazing to see Birkin’s influence in the “French girl aesthetic” even to this day. Though quite controversial at times, it’s clear the impact Birkin had. If anything this sparked more curiosity & led me down rabbit holes around Gainsbourg & other takes unpacking some of these tumultuous relationships & times in her lice. So fascinating & bingeable
Read
October 21, 2025No rating (nonfiction)
I loved this look at the life and legacy of Jane Birkin. When I picked up this book, I was simply fascinated on learning more about the woman behind the famous handbag. It Girl gives the reader so much more and deep dives into how Jane Birkin became the icon she is known as today. I loved the way Marisa Meltzer told the story of Birkin. She takes snippets from her personal diary, interviews both in person and in print, and her family.
I feel like this nonfiction book scratched an itch in my brain that was curious about how Birkin bags truly started and the woman behind it. There is always another side to a celebrity and Meltzer told the story with grace.
Thank you to Atria for an ARC and finished copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I loved this look at the life and legacy of Jane Birkin. When I picked up this book, I was simply fascinated on learning more about the woman behind the famous handbag. It Girl gives the reader so much more and deep dives into how Jane Birkin became the icon she is known as today. I loved the way Marisa Meltzer told the story of Birkin. She takes snippets from her personal diary, interviews both in person and in print, and her family.
I feel like this nonfiction book scratched an itch in my brain that was curious about how Birkin bags truly started and the woman behind it. There is always another side to a celebrity and Meltzer told the story with grace.
Thank you to Atria for an ARC and finished copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.
December 23, 2025
I will admit I didn’t know much about Jane Birkin as a person outside her eponymous bag before reading this book which says something in itself. It must be such a strange experience to have your name subsumed into the namesake of a coveted object when she was very much objectified throughout her career and didn’t always have a lot of agency. I think the book does a good job to showcase Jane’s inner thoughts via her journals and hits on various important milestones of her life. Educational but I can’t say it was groundbreaking or even definitive.
Read
January 6, 2026I thoroughly enjoyed reading through the many stages of Jane Birkin’s life. This book provides more detail into her character and her many layers. Jane Birkin is an English-born girl turned French “it girl,” and this book shows you the before, during, and after of that. Greatly written and researched!
August 26, 2025
It Girl is the story of Jane Birkin (yes, of Birkin bag fame), an icon of the 1960s--primarily, it would seem, just for being herself. She was admired, copied, followed. She sang, acted in many films, and was involved in a highly publicized and romanticized relationship with Serge Gainsbourg (who was a well-known French singer/songwriter, actor, composer and director.
Birkin was born to an affluent English family, attending well-established and well-known schools who moved to France in her late teens and somehow drifted into fame and, if not fortune, at least a living. Her first short marriage was a disaster, her second (to famed composer John Barry) tumultuous and longer lasting partnership with Serge Gainsbourg also tumultuous as well as passionate. Birkin recorded an album with Gainsbourg and, despite not ever fully mastering the language, became the prototype of "the French girl."
Birkin had three long term relationships and came out of each with a daughter. She was an adoring mother if somewhat unorthodox and determined to remain relevant and fun, she and Gainsbourg lived their life freely and extravagantly, bringing the children with them. All three daughters achieved fame for themselves in the creative arts. I am most familiar with Kate Barry's photography. Gifted and struggling with substance abuse issues since adolescence, Barry died at 46 years old in a fall from in what was considered most likely a suicide. Some of the most moving pages in this book are about Barry's death and Birkin's devastation.
In Meltzer's very entertaining account, Birkin comes across as likable, quirky, a woman who was for years only the image of the gaze of other people. Birkin struggled to develop her own identity as an artist and ultimately as someone other than part of a romantic couple. She kept a journal, which Meltzer quotes frequently, giving us a better sense of the woman in her own words.
Birkin appeared in Blow-Up in a small role which, nevertheless garnered much attention and in two Agatha Christie films. After reading this book, I tracked down a copy of Beautiful Troublemaker--a wonderful film with a fascinating performance by Birkin.
One of the best qualities of this book is that it created in me an interest in its subject so that I did things like track down films she is in and recordings of her singing. (My opinion: Birkin as an appealing if somewhat thin voice--I'm not sure how "good" she is, but like the clothes she wore, and the wicker basket she carried, she became a huge success in her adopted country)
This is a delightful book, interesting, engaging, fun and at times moving. It brought back a time, an era of which I was just becoming aware at the time and highlights a major trendsetter in it. It held my interest throughout.
In short, I loved it and better than most celebrity bios.
My thanks to Atria Books, NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free advance copy of the book i9 exchange for an honest review. It Girl will be published October 7, 2025.
Birkin was born to an affluent English family, attending well-established and well-known schools who moved to France in her late teens and somehow drifted into fame and, if not fortune, at least a living. Her first short marriage was a disaster, her second (to famed composer John Barry) tumultuous and longer lasting partnership with Serge Gainsbourg also tumultuous as well as passionate. Birkin recorded an album with Gainsbourg and, despite not ever fully mastering the language, became the prototype of "the French girl."
Birkin had three long term relationships and came out of each with a daughter. She was an adoring mother if somewhat unorthodox and determined to remain relevant and fun, she and Gainsbourg lived their life freely and extravagantly, bringing the children with them. All three daughters achieved fame for themselves in the creative arts. I am most familiar with Kate Barry's photography. Gifted and struggling with substance abuse issues since adolescence, Barry died at 46 years old in a fall from in what was considered most likely a suicide. Some of the most moving pages in this book are about Barry's death and Birkin's devastation.
In Meltzer's very entertaining account, Birkin comes across as likable, quirky, a woman who was for years only the image of the gaze of other people. Birkin struggled to develop her own identity as an artist and ultimately as someone other than part of a romantic couple. She kept a journal, which Meltzer quotes frequently, giving us a better sense of the woman in her own words.
Birkin appeared in Blow-Up in a small role which, nevertheless garnered much attention and in two Agatha Christie films. After reading this book, I tracked down a copy of Beautiful Troublemaker--a wonderful film with a fascinating performance by Birkin.
One of the best qualities of this book is that it created in me an interest in its subject so that I did things like track down films she is in and recordings of her singing. (My opinion: Birkin as an appealing if somewhat thin voice--I'm not sure how "good" she is, but like the clothes she wore, and the wicker basket she carried, she became a huge success in her adopted country)
This is a delightful book, interesting, engaging, fun and at times moving. It brought back a time, an era of which I was just becoming aware at the time and highlights a major trendsetter in it. It held my interest throughout.
In short, I loved it and better than most celebrity bios.
My thanks to Atria Books, NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free advance copy of the book i9 exchange for an honest review. It Girl will be published October 7, 2025.
October 16, 2025
It was a quick read, but to me it felt mostly like a summary or retelling of Jane Birkin’s diaries, which I found a bit disappointing. The tone came across as rather detached, and the subject (a very interesting woman!) was treated somewhat superficially - almost like a school assignment at times. The early years were described in great detail (likely because there’s so much source material in Birkin’s own journals), but the later years felt underexplored and lacking depth. Overall, it left me wanting more insight and originality. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t really recommend this one.
July 16, 2025
thank you netgalley, marisa meltzer, and atria books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! i’ve always been fascinated by jane birkin and i was so excited to see this one available to request. it’s a great biography and covers her life well, with an emphasis on how she became more true to herself as she aged. i loved learning about jane birkin the person and not just the style icon - although i do love her fashion too. if you’re interested in learning about an important historical figure from a feminist lens, be sure to check this one out! i really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from meltzer in the future.
October 21, 2025
This review copy was provided by Atria Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a pleasant surprise! I went in knowing the few traditional facts about Jane Birkin even though I have an entire Pinterest board full of beautiful pictures of her namesake bag. Yes, I too one day strive to own a beat up black Birkin 35. (pre-loved and beautiful, of course!) The book started out fairly straightforward and journalistic in writing style, especially during the sections where it chronicled her many early relationships. It was interesting to read how tumultuous those early relationships and her life where. It reminded me of Cher’s memoir where her extreme fame was also paired with, at times, emotionally fraught romantic relationships. As the story progressed, the book veered more into a heartfelt yet still straightforward writing style, which was where the writing really hooked me in. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of seeing how Birkin came into her own as a woman and an artist despite years of being known for her romantic and muse-based relationships with the men in her life. It was cool to read just how many films she was in and musical works she recorded, which was very prolific, as I wasn’t sure the scale of her work before reading this book. The fact that she still toured late into her life was really beautiful and surprising to hear, as many artists rightfully do so for the passion and love for their work. One thing that I was surprised by was that the book touched only briefly upon her charity and advocacy work as I expected it would cover that a bit more, especially considering that it is frequently mentioned in many press fact bios about her as being a large part of her selfhood. I wanted to know more of a deeper backstory about what causes she supported, how her advocacy shaped her life, and what it meant to her. Did she discuss her advocacy more in her journals? I would be curious to hear her anecdotes on more of that, perhaps woven into more of the timeline narrative than just a chapter or so. I also loved that she kept journals throughout her life and was just as surprised as the author that she didn’t eventually write a memoir. Thankfully, we now have a great book that is well-written and gives breadth to her deep and adventurous life. Jane Birkin is indeed much more than the namesake bag she was named after, as that is only one small (albeit often the most well-known aspect) of her life. Overall, I was glad that I picked this book and not only added to my non-fiction fashion book repertoire, but also learned more about the woman who inspired one of my favorite fashion items. For anyone who loves fashion, Hermes, or one day aspires to own a Birkin or Kelly of their own, I encourage them to pick up this book and walk away with a deeper appreciation for this intriguing woman. I certainly did!
This book was a pleasant surprise! I went in knowing the few traditional facts about Jane Birkin even though I have an entire Pinterest board full of beautiful pictures of her namesake bag. Yes, I too one day strive to own a beat up black Birkin 35. (pre-loved and beautiful, of course!) The book started out fairly straightforward and journalistic in writing style, especially during the sections where it chronicled her many early relationships. It was interesting to read how tumultuous those early relationships and her life where. It reminded me of Cher’s memoir where her extreme fame was also paired with, at times, emotionally fraught romantic relationships. As the story progressed, the book veered more into a heartfelt yet still straightforward writing style, which was where the writing really hooked me in. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of seeing how Birkin came into her own as a woman and an artist despite years of being known for her romantic and muse-based relationships with the men in her life. It was cool to read just how many films she was in and musical works she recorded, which was very prolific, as I wasn’t sure the scale of her work before reading this book. The fact that she still toured late into her life was really beautiful and surprising to hear, as many artists rightfully do so for the passion and love for their work. One thing that I was surprised by was that the book touched only briefly upon her charity and advocacy work as I expected it would cover that a bit more, especially considering that it is frequently mentioned in many press fact bios about her as being a large part of her selfhood. I wanted to know more of a deeper backstory about what causes she supported, how her advocacy shaped her life, and what it meant to her. Did she discuss her advocacy more in her journals? I would be curious to hear her anecdotes on more of that, perhaps woven into more of the timeline narrative than just a chapter or so. I also loved that she kept journals throughout her life and was just as surprised as the author that she didn’t eventually write a memoir. Thankfully, we now have a great book that is well-written and gives breadth to her deep and adventurous life. Jane Birkin is indeed much more than the namesake bag she was named after, as that is only one small (albeit often the most well-known aspect) of her life. Overall, I was glad that I picked this book and not only added to my non-fiction fashion book repertoire, but also learned more about the woman who inspired one of my favorite fashion items. For anyone who loves fashion, Hermes, or one day aspires to own a Birkin or Kelly of their own, I encourage them to pick up this book and walk away with a deeper appreciation for this intriguing woman. I certainly did!
September 17, 2025
3.7 ⭐️
Marisa Meltzer shows us Jane Birkin beyond the iconic bag, beyond the striped shirts and ballet flats. This biography portrays a young woman navigating the weight of expectations and trying to understand who she was.
We see her early days in London, her family’s upper middle class background, and how her mother was connected to Winston Churchill’s daughter, who later became Jane’s godmother. The book traces her first interactions with older men, helping us understand her complicated relationships later in life. It reveals how she was both sheltered and yet exposed to things she should not have been, and how sometimes what feels like our worst experiences can open the way to self discovery.
What stayed with me is how someone so different from me could still feel familiar. In her obsessions, repeating the same clothing choices until they became part of her, I recognized pieces of myself. Even her simple basket bag, carried everywhere, eventually grew into something larger and became a cultural icon. What this book reminded me is that there is power in simplicity, in being certain of who you are, and in choosing yourself, because authenticity can leave the most lasting mark.
Thank you so much Atria Books for the free early copy!
Marisa Meltzer shows us Jane Birkin beyond the iconic bag, beyond the striped shirts and ballet flats. This biography portrays a young woman navigating the weight of expectations and trying to understand who she was.
We see her early days in London, her family’s upper middle class background, and how her mother was connected to Winston Churchill’s daughter, who later became Jane’s godmother. The book traces her first interactions with older men, helping us understand her complicated relationships later in life. It reveals how she was both sheltered and yet exposed to things she should not have been, and how sometimes what feels like our worst experiences can open the way to self discovery.
What stayed with me is how someone so different from me could still feel familiar. In her obsessions, repeating the same clothing choices until they became part of her, I recognized pieces of myself. Even her simple basket bag, carried everywhere, eventually grew into something larger and became a cultural icon. What this book reminded me is that there is power in simplicity, in being certain of who you are, and in choosing yourself, because authenticity can leave the most lasting mark.
Thank you so much Atria Books for the free early copy!
December 5, 2025
This was a really engaging read! I hadn’t known anything about Jane Birkin beyond the Birkin bag, so I was genuinely surprised by how influential, multitalented, and culturally significant she was. Listening to Je t’aime… moi non plus for the first time sent me down a rabbit hole of wanting to explore more of her work, and it made me appreciate just how deeply she shaped music, film, and fashion.
My only complaint is that the book spends a lot of time on the men she was involved with, at times making her life feel defined by those relationships—ironically, something the author critiques herself.
My only complaint is that the book spends a lot of time on the men she was involved with, at times making her life feel defined by those relationships—ironically, something the author critiques herself.
November 8, 2025
3.5
There's endless examples of fascinating and talented women who have been reduced to being known just for what they wear, and Jane Birkin is no exception. People use her name constantly in the world of consumerism from hairstyles to of course bags, which as the book makes pretty clear, was never something she intended for nor cared much about. So for that reason, I'm glad that this book exists, and I did thoroughly enjoy reading it.
That being said, where the book added depth to her approach to lifestyle and fashion, it leaned too heavily on the men she associated with. I understand that they were an overall integral part to her story, but I don't think there was a single chapter that was solely her own, they were always shadowed in some way by her relationships.
There's endless examples of fascinating and talented women who have been reduced to being known just for what they wear, and Jane Birkin is no exception. People use her name constantly in the world of consumerism from hairstyles to of course bags, which as the book makes pretty clear, was never something she intended for nor cared much about. So for that reason, I'm glad that this book exists, and I did thoroughly enjoy reading it.
That being said, where the book added depth to her approach to lifestyle and fashion, it leaned too heavily on the men she associated with. I understand that they were an overall integral part to her story, but I don't think there was a single chapter that was solely her own, they were always shadowed in some way by her relationships.
December 2, 2025
I love her !!!!!!! I was so captivated by this story and getting to see her journal entries being used. So much I didn’t know about her because I didn’t bother to research her outside of her professional work and I’m so happy I learned. I even cried. She was such a loving mom and daughter and just a certified lover girl. Even though it came to her own demise most of the time. Truly an icon and artist ! RIP Kate ❣️
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