The stars come out to celebrate Jane Birkin in the most casually chic funeral of the year: CLAUDIA JOSEPH gives her verdict as the stellar guests paid homage to the late style icon
It was a funeral which paid homage to her role as bohemian fashion muse, style icon and insouciant rebel.
When Jane Birkin was remembered yesterday at Paris’ Saint-Roch church, a coterie of actresses, singers and fashionistas turned out to celebrate the life of the woman who was the inspiration for the world’s most iconic bag – the Hermes’ Birkin.
Unlike British funerals, there was not a veiled headpiece or pearl necklace in sight. Instead, France’s fashion elite nonchalantly mixed French designer labels with dark sunglasses, kohl eyeliner and minimal, exquisitely expensive, accessories. All in the Parisienne’s favourite colour, black.
It was Jane’s daughters, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, 51, and singer Lou Doillon, 40, who set the tone, honouring their mother, who, though born in London, became, with her gap-toothed smile, flopping fringe, and tousled bed hair, the epitome of French chic.
In a touching move, both wore tuxedo ‘Le Smoking’ jackets, the enduring design that made couturier Yves Saint Laurent’s name in 1966 – the year Jane adopted the France as her homeland.
Charlotte Rampling (left) in an informal cream cardigan and First Lady Brigitte Macron (right) with her £3,000 handbag
Catherine Deneuve (left) teamed £690 Vivier heels and a Prada bag, while Vanessa Paradis (right) wore jeans and straw trilby
It was Jane’s daughters, actress Charlotte Gainsbourg (right), 51, and singer Lou Doillon (left), 40, who set the tone
Gainsbourg (whose father was the actor/singer Serge Gainsbourg with whom Birkin recorded J t’aime) wore a £2,365 Saint Laurent satin lapel tuxedo jacket and £1,105 Saint Laurent trousers, while Doillon is believed to have teamed a £2,170 single-breasted jacket with YSL trousers.
It was a fitting tribute: in the 1960s both Jane and Yves were already fashion legends. More than half a century later Birkin posed for YSL in a series of black and white images, teaming ‘Le Smoking’ with a simple white shirt.
However, it wasn’t just family that gave Jane a fashion send-off worthy of the catwalk’s front row.
France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron teamed a black £735 jacket and matching £320 trousers by French designer Barbara Bui with a £3,050 Louis Vuitton handbag.
Catherine Deneuve, who inspired Roger Vivier’s iconic Belle De Jour pumps, named after the eponymous film, plumped for £690 Vivier heels and a Prada bag, while Bond girl and actress Carole Bouquet, now Chanel’s house ambassador, wore vintage Chanel gold-heeled loafers.
Other guests, however, appeared to have channelled Jane’s bohemian touch. Singer Vanessa Paradis wore jeans and straw trilby, while actress Emmanuelle Beart turned up in £14.99 Zara trousers.
One actress, French-Algerian star Maiwenn, even stood on the steps of the church in her vintage Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche coat, unlit cigarette hanging out of her mouth, rifling through her Bottega Veneta bag for a lighter. Jane, no doubt, would have approved.
Source: Read Full Article
