The Kelly Bag

The Hermès Kelly bag is a status symbol and a classic fashion design at the same time. The Kelly bag was named after Grace Kelly, but how has it started?

 In 1892 Émile-Maurice Hermès, the grandson of the founder, has designed the first prototype of a bag which was able to hold horse saddle. It was elegant but at the same time it was large enough to hold it. After the success of this type of leather bag, he designed a very similar bag for his wife which she can use as a handbag.

After another decade, in the 30ies, Hermès’ son-in-law, Robert Dumas has redesigned the bag and this one has remained untouched until today. That was the Sac à Dépêches („the dispatch bag”), the original name of the Kelly bag.

 Grace Kelly, who was aleardy a famous and successfull actress at he beginning of the 50ies, played a millionaire’s spoiled daughter in the Hitchcock movie „To Catch a Thief,” in 1955.

The costume designer of the film was Edith Head and for this film Hitchcock allowed her to go on a shopping session with Grace Kelly in the Hermès boutique. When Grace Kelly laid eyes on the Hermès design, she immediatly fell in love with it.

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly was gifted the bag to use in the movie and she loved it so much that she used it  again and again afterwards. Her passion for the bag was so strong that she has worn it at the most important events of her life. She had it on when she announced her engagement to Prince Rainer III, and later she used it to hide her baby bump from the press. Photos have been spread all over the world about Kelly with her iconic bag. Even though the bag was known as the Kelly bag from the mid 50ies by the public, it has been renamed only in 1977 by Hermès. The Kelly bag is one of the most coveted bags in the world. It is crafted by one expert, usually takes 25 hours to finish one and Hermès does not have a production line. If you would like to own one, it costs a pretty penny with a minimum amount of 10.000 Euro

Grace Kelly, Prince Rainer III and the famous Kelly bag