"It's not a bag: it's a f***ing Birkin!" shrieks Samantha, in Sex and the City, when she attempts to use Lucy Liu's name to move up the legendary Hermes Birkin waiting list. What she means is this isn't a bag it's the ultimate fashion status symbol. The Birkin has been called the ‘perfect' bag, i.e. once you get one you never want another. Er, is that handbag or Birkin? Victoria Beckham is rather fabulously rumoured to have a room full in every colour. Traditionally low in supply and high in demand you have to wait eight months to six-years for one of these. The story goes, the actress Jane Birkin sat next to Hermes chief exec Jean-Louis Dumas on a Paris to London flight in 1984 and was whinging on about how she couldn't find a decent, chic, weekend bag. He obliged and put her name to it. A tip: try the Hermes cancellation list or eBay, where Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home The Birkin, famously sold them and made his fortune.

By Julia Robson 

Left: Katie Holmes with Hermes Birkin bag