Former Hermes Leader Dead At 72

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
May 3rd 2010 at 10:01PM

The former head of the luxury brand Hermès, Jean-Louis Dumas, died on May 1 at the age of 72. Dumas ran Hermès from 1978 to 2006 and was responsible for transforming the brand from a small and well-respected maker of leather goods to an internationally known luxury brand. Dumas was the great-great grandson of Thierry Hermès, who founded the company in 1837. Dumas helped give the world the intensely craved Birkin bag and brought fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to the brand. Known to be a charismatic man of great style, he also published a book of photographs. The family still owns over 70 percent of the Hermès group and Dumas' son Pierre-Alexis works as an artistic director for the company.

According to a story in the Telegraph, the Birkin bag came about after Dumas and actress Jane Birkin sat next to each other on a flight from Paris to London. She told Dumas that she could never find a decent handbag and so he invited her to the Hermès workshop to help create one. The bag remains a status symbol known around the world and it can take years to get your own.

Tags: birkin bag, hermes, jean-louis dumas, luxury brands, paris