“My straw basket came from the market behind Haymarket Theatre. It was Portuguese. I’ve had four in total and carried them for twenty five years, although they always lost their covers. I bought the first one for two quid, I think, in 1966 when I was doing a play, Carving a Statue, by Graham Greene. I was faithful to that basket until my third husband Jacques Doillon drove his car over it - he was fed up with my “gimmicks”. I then caught a plane to London and sat next to Mr Dumas of Hermès…The rest is history.” - Jane Birkin.
