13 Enchanting Bag Charms to Splurge on for Your Designer Bag

With Coach, Miu Miu and Balenciaga bringing the bag charm trend back to fashion, here are some of the best bag charms to consider buying on your next shopping spree.

The late actress Jane Birkin is beloved for her influence on French culture, especially in film, music, as well as fashion. It’s not difficult to see how that came to be when one considers her contributions to all three aspects, especially in the latter through the iconic Birkin bag and a resurgence of her signature laid-back approach to chic elegance, replete with bag charms.

Quite possibly one of the most easily recognisable purveyors of ‘French girl chic’, a sartorial typecast defined by easy, pared-down apparel, minimal yet tasteful makeup, and a dose of abstract je ne sais quoi. Of course, let us not forget one ubiquitous accessory for the Jane Birkin aspirant on the go: a well-worn, well-loved leather handbag, personalised with trinkets, charms, and momentos galore that indicate a life well-lived.

Despite being the progenitor of the Birkin bag, Jane Birkin herself owned only a handful of the designer bags throughout her lifetime, opting to request a new piece from Hermes only when the one in her possession became irrevocably irreparable from use.

And use it she did, making no effort to treat the extortionately expensive bag like a treasured bauble under lock and key. Instead, her Birkin bag was often photographed filled to the very brim with her belongings, slouching and dipping askew, but made all the more charming by the assortment of stickers and keychains picked up from her travels that were dangled off the bag.

Now, fashion houses are beginning to take note of her genius by adopting the same approach to some of their newer collections, with French couture maison Balenciaga, led under the stewardship of Creative Director Demna Gvasilia, most prominently launching a new, pre-distressed handbag with its own assortment of keychains and charms. Similarly in miu miu and Coach, the same trend emerged in their latest runway presentations, where models were seen holding overstuffed, over-accessorised bags ala Jane Birkin.

If you’re looking to re-create this very same bag charm trend, then be sure to check out our recommendations for some of the most endearing and collectible designer bag charms that you can splurge on right now.