The Object of Our Attention: Marisa Meltzer’s ‘It Girl’
BY
ACREE GRAHAM MACAM
NOVEMBER 20, 2025
Marisa Meltzer’s new book, It Girl (Atria, 2025), traces the life of Jane Birkin: her privileged London upbringing, her rise as style icon and trendsetter, her romantic partnerships with famous men, and her role in creating the Hermés Birkin Bag. Of course Birkin, who died in 2023 at age 76, was more than the men and the objects she inspired. She was an actor and singer in her own right. She was a daughter and mother of three. And as her journals—from which Meltzer drew heavily for her research—reveal, she lived a rich interior life that didn’t always square with her public persona.
