The Kelly bag (formerly known as the Sac à main de Voyage) is a leatherhandbag designed by the Paris-based, high-fashion luxury-goods manufacturer Hermès. The bag was redesigned several times before it was popularized by and then named after the American actress and Monégasque princess Grace Kelly. The bag is now an expensive status symbol.
Design
The Kelly bag is a trapezium closed around the mouth with two horizontal straps.[1] Four studs on the bottom, which is made of three layers of leather,[2] enable it to stand on the ground. It is sold in eight sizes, ranging from 15 centimetres (5.9 inches) to 50 centimetres (20 inches).[1] The padlock, keys and hardware are made of white or yellow gold.[2] The later Kelly II bag is available in two distinct styles, as did its predecessor, the Kelly.
The sellier style is a rigid construction including a stiffening layer between the outer leather and inner lining, with the side and bottom stitching clearly visible; the retourné style is a softer construction, wherein the bag is sewn and then turned inside-out, hiding the exterior side stitching. The Kelly II, released in 2000 as an update to the original Kelly, has a double ring at the top handle, designed to attach to a shoulder strap; the original Kelly, while often fitted with a shoulder strap, had a single-ring design. The Kelly bag requires 18 to 25 hours of handicraft to make, with each item created by a single artisan.[2][3][4] By the mid-1990s, a Kelly bag was priced at US$3,500,[2][3][4] and as of 2019 prices ranged from US$8,500 to US$13,000, with exotic leathers priced higher.[5]
History
"...created in 1938 and called the Haut à Courroie..."[6]
In 1923, Émile-Maurice Hermès and Ettore Bugatti designed a simple and plain bag for Hermès's wife Julie, named after Bugatti. The Bugatti was the first bag designed by Hermès specifically as a women's handbag and is notable for being the first handbag to utilize a zipper pull. In 1935, Hermès's son-in-law Robert Dumas redesigned it as a spacious travel bag called Sac à main de Voyage. It was a sharp contrast to the dominant handbags of the time, which were simple, small and flat, resembling envelopes.[7]
Association with Grace Kelly
Red crocodile leather Kelly bag
Alfred Hitchcock has been credited with bringing the handbag into the limelight. In 1954, Hitchcock allowed the costume designer Edith Head to purchase Hermès accessories for the film To Catch a Thief, starring Grace Kelly. According to Head, Kelly "fell in love" with the bag. In 1956 she became princess of Monaco and was photographed using the handbag to shield her growing belly from the paparazzi during her first pregnancy. That photograph was featured in Life magazine.[8] Princess Grace was a fashion icon, and the handbag immediately became very popular,[3][7] becoming known as the Kelly bag, although not officially so-named until 1977.[1]
The handbag with which Princess Grace was photographed was loaned by the palace archives of Monaco[9] and displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum in April 2010, along with other notable wardrobe items owned by the princess.[9][6] The "star exhibit" of the show has scuffs and marks, as the wardrobe-thrifty princess carried it for many years.[9] As of 2010[update] Hermès made 32 styles of handbags, of which the Kelly was the best-seller.[8]
