How to Get a Hermes Birkin Bag: Meet Michael Tonello

You guys know that the only Hermes item yours truly has is "Birkin" made of paper and glued together, a world of difference from the blinged out 190,000 USD item seen on the left. So when I ran into a three friends recently, all sporting their Birkin bags, I was intrigued.Why would people thrown down cash for something that isn't that earth shattering in the first place?

My three friends all had the same Birkin, each in a different colour. These three ladies have know each other since their days at Miss Porter's and have never appeared in public wearing the same colour much less sporting the same bag but they did. What was the mystique? It's not particularly stellar to me in design and it is a heavy bag.Seriously heavy bag.

I have a tendency to carry a ton of items and my YSl Rivoli Tote tote is weightless and I still come home with shoulder pains so I can't image what it must be like with this one. But I'm no expert, so I sought out someone who knows more of the Birkin than I could ever.

He's the  man who proved that Hermes waiting list does not exist and that with the right wink and credit limit, you'll definitely get yourself a bag! I got in contact with the fabulously understated yet hotly debated, Michael Tonello, author of Bringing Home the Birkin My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag for a little chat:

DD: Since you've toured the continents and been to most of the Hermes boutique, do you have a favorite and one that you absolutely despise? Why?
MT: My favorite is certainly the Hermes flagship store on the Faubourg in Paris. It's home to everything Hermes makes, under one roof.  The store is so old-world and some of the systems in place seem archaic, but it makes for a fascinating shopping experience. I used to hate the Hermes store in Marseille but no longer do. Now I hate the Hermes store at the Hilton in Paris. (It has to do with a certain hateful person working in the store. It's all covered in my book.)  Perhaps "hate" is not the right word. I'd with strongly dislike.

DD: Now that you've written the book and the cat's out of the very expensive hand bag, do you have any regrets? Of not being in the hunt? Of that secretive feeling?                                                
MT: I truly have no regrets. The amount of travel I was doing was exhaustive. I was selling to so many people on a world-wide level that it was inevitable that a percentage of them were high maintenance and stressful.

DD: Now that you've proven the Hermes wait list as one lovely expensive joke, does the Hermes bag still exude that sense of mystery for you as it does for so many of the label's fans through the world?
MT: Once I discovered "the formula" for getting Birkin's that sense of mystery totally vanished.

DD: What was your best experience from the entire adventure?

MT: Three of my original Birkin clients have become dear friends. One of them has become friends with my Dad. 

DD: Have there been any negative responses from any clients or the Hermes SA's you've worked with since the publication of the book?
MT: There are a few people who feel as if I have violated some sacred code (by exposing the waiting list as you say "one lovely expensive joke").  A couple of those people are also re-sellers and others are the type that unfortunately define themselves by the brands in which they choose to covet or obsess over.  Hermes and the SA's have been most supportive.

DD: What are your top three most favorite bag purchases, in terms of color and material? 

MT: At the time I was deep in the throws of Birkin-ing, a pale pink crocodile Birkin was super-rare. I managed to special order one back in 2002 or 2003.  When that bag finally arrived it was pretty special having something that so many people lusted for.  I had a very sweet client in Japan who desperately wanted a "dalmation" Birkin (spotted leather, like the dog) but had been told that Hermes was no longer making them. I managed to get Paris to make one for her. That was pretty thrilling. And finally, the very last Birkin I purchased (35cm orange) which my publisher, William Morrow, used for a Birkin Sweepstakes.

DD:Since you most of your business involved Ebay, were you able to chart which destination in the world had the greatest number of demands for bags?
MT: USA.

DD: Have you been inside an Hermes stores since your book had been published?
MT: Yes. I spent about an hour in the Rodeo Drive store in Beverly Hills talking with several of the employees.  It was amazing how kind and enthusiastic they all were about my book. I was totally shocked when they told me that there were "several copies floating around the building being read". 

DD: I heard the book has already been optioned for a film...Who would play you?
MT: I don't have any idea. I've heard several names tossed around, such as Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp. Of course any of those three would be like a dream come true.

DD: Now that you're out of the bag business, what are you up to?
MT:I've written a series of children's books based on my two cats, Gala and Dali, and am in the process of getting them published. Also I am about to start work on a book about marketing oneself in the digital age and perhaps a "prequel" book to Bringing Home the Birkin.