Hermès Constance

The Constance is a small, square-shouldered bag of stiff leather, closed by a flap whose lower edge is cut away to frame a large metal H. The H is the clasp: it pivots to release the flap. Inside, two gussets divide the bag into compartments. A flat leather strap, fixed at the top corners by small gilt tabs, can be worn long or doubled over the shoulder. Plain calf, crocodile and lizard have all been used; the shape has not changed.

It was drawn for Hermès by Catherine Chaillet, an in-house designer, who named it after the daughter she gave birth to, the story goes, on the day the first bag went on sale. Most accounts, including Sotheby's, place this in 1959. Others give 1969, and none cites a document, so the date shown here is disputed. A Constance auctioned in 2024 was catalogued as dating from 1968.

The bag found an early admirer in Jacqueline Kennedy and became, with the Kelly and the Birkin, one of the three Hermès bags that collectors chase. Hermès has used its outline in its own advertising: in 1974 a craftsman's hands stitching the H flap; in 1996 a crocodile Constance beneath a pair of watches. Rumours that the style would be dropped have come and gone, and it has stayed in production.

What has changed is the sizing. The original 23 centimetre bag and the larger 25 and 29 have been retired; the Constance is now made in 14, 18 and 24 centimetres and in the longer Elan. The Constance 24 shown here keeps the two gussets of the first bags; a slimmer version with a single gusset, the 1-24, was added in 2023 and is made alongside it rather than in its place. It is sold only in Hermès boutiques, at about $14,000 in calf according to Sotheby's.