Lucy Liu reflects on iconic Sex and the City Birkin moment as original bag fetches record £8m

Lucy Liu has spoken of recreating one of the most iconic moments from television fashion history, reminiscing about the levels of security that surrounded a Hermès Birkin handbag during an episode of Sex and the City.

Lucy Liu was confused by security measures around Hermes bag during filming Sex and the City

In a Life in Looks video by a magazine, the 57-year-old actress looked back at her appearance during season four of the series in the ‘Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda’ installment. During the 2001 storyline, the actress played a fictionalised version of herself that had her fame leveraged by public relations mogul Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, to overcome the five-year waiting list to get the coveted item.

Lucy has admitted she was confused at first by the veneration with which she was told to treat the object in question.

"In the rehearsal, I was using this fake bag, and then when we actually shot... [there was] security, people dressed in suits like Men in Black," she remembered. She described how the bag was kept in a safe and handled by staff wearing white gloves. While she initially questioned the fuss, Lucy eventually conceded: "And you know what? It’s a big deal."

The handbag was initially created in 1981 after a meeting between Birkin and Hermès director, Jean-Louis Dumas, on an Air France plane. The meeting was a result of the actress struggling to carry a wicker basket on the plane, which Dumas was inspired to solve with one of his designs.

Today, however, it is still the status symbol par excellence. Recent spottings have included posts on social media of Kylie Jenner carrying a £128,000 variant on her plane and Cynthia Erivo sporting a highly sought "HAC" Birkin 50 in Palm Springs. Whether it is a MacGuffin or an investment record-breaker, it continues to embody luxury.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.