The Pop Corporation

For the French to take an English person to heart, they have to be pretty special – and of course, they don’t come much more special than Jane Birkin, one of the world’s greatest muses. She died over the weekend, aged 76, forever France’s favourite petite Anglaise.

Actor, singer, icon – Birkin was the complete icon, with a voice as assured as it was gentle. She was bold and beautiful, with the former being evident on the still-shocking ‘Je t’aime Moi Non Plus’ with her collaborator, romantic partner, and mischief maker Serge Gainsbourg. To say that the pair were notorious is something of an understatement, with Jane giving as much as Serge ever did. A fearless and brilliant woman, no question.

Le Monde wrote: “Birkin’s life, apart from Gainsbourg, was a seamless adventure – records, films, theatre, love at first sight and hard knocks.” Who can argue with that?

Prior to Serge, she was already ruffling the feathers and capturing the hearts of the high and mighty, marrying James Bond composer and UK jazzer, John Barry, before leaving for France. She starred in counter-culture smash, Blow-Up, before at 22, everything changed with the meeting of Gainsbourg on set in the satirical film, ‘Slogan’.

While it seems churlish to focus on Serge, their relationship lasted for 13 years and it made them France’s most famous couple and the affections of Francophiles around the world. They were rebellions, bohemian, devoted themselves to mischief and pleasure, and of course, made some fabulous and era-defining music together. Well-dressed and willing to push buttons, the pair were in the sights of the Vatican for being too sexual, and found themselves banned in countless radio stations, yet still found themselves having huge hits.

They were friends, even after their hectic relationship ended, until the day he died.

Clearly though, there’s so much more to Birkin’s life than her relationship with men. She appeared in various arthouse movies and garnering countless praise, working with some of French cinema’s finest, including Jean-Luc Godard, Bertrand Tavernier, Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais and more.

In her later musical career, again with Gainsbourg collaborating, she sang ‘Les Dessous Chic’, a song about using lingerie to try and paper over the cracks of an ailing romantic relationship, a song she referred to as “the most beautiful song about separation you could ever have.”

Outside of cinema and music, understandably, she was a icon in the fashion world, with the kind of face and charm that all clothes looked fantastic on. In 1984, after a flight between Paris and London, Birkin sat on a plane with Hermès big cheese Jean-Louis Dumas, and struck up a conversation about how her perfect bag didn’t exist, which resulted in the wildly popular Hermès Birkin handbag – stylish, bold, practical – and one that is as popular now as it ever was. Beautiful things that were designed to be used – it’s perhaps more famous than the music she’s created.

Incredibly difficult to get hold of, expensive sure, but the copycat designs will have almost certainly been on your arm over the years, such is the impact of the Birkin bag.

Her confident, bohemian fashion sense saw her photographed in see-through dresses, plunging neck-lines, men’s suit jackets, simple but beautiful shirts and crochets, she was a brand of chic that no-one else got close to. She was in turn playful, daring and rebellious, as she was classic and timeless. Her look could be carefree and easy, it could be precise and bold – and no-one wore a pair of simple blue jeans as well as Jane Birkin did.

In the experimental biopic of herself, she said: “I’d like to be filmed as if I were transparent, anonymous, like everyone else.” Not a chance. We all couldn’t help but notice Jane Birkin, and that’s because she was the coolest person any of us ever so. A one-off. Truly iconic. We won’t see her like again.

To quote her again: “Who wants an easy life? It’s boring!”