Hermès Bag Types: Every Style and Name Explained hermes bag 2000

Author : Leon Lerche | Published On : 19 Sep 2026

Behind every Hermès bag there is a story, a waitlist, or both. Hermès offers much more than the two bags everyone recognizes. This guide covers the different Hermès bag names, what each style is for, roughly what they cost, and which ones you can actually walk in and buy.

Already know which model you are after? Skip straight to it below. Starting fresh? Go in order, since the styles are grouped by availability.

The Quota Bags: Birkin and Kelly

Each year, Hermès restricts how many of its two flagship bags any client can purchase. Collectors call these the quota bags. Ordering one outright is not possible. They are offered to established clients only, which is why resale prices for both sit far above retail.

Hermès Birkin Bag

The Birkin is the most famous handbag in the world. The design is a structured top-handle tote: two straps, a turn-lock closure, no shoulder strap. You will most often see it in the 25, 30, and 35 sizes.

Expect Hermès Birkin bag prices to open around $11,000–$12,000 retail for a Togo 25, climbing fast once exotic skins enter the picture. On the secondary market, expect $20,000 and up for popular sizes and colors. The most expensive Hermès bags ever sold are diamond-set crocodile Birkins, with auction results in the hundreds of thousands.

Hermès Kelly Bag

Older and more refined, the Hermès Kelly bag pairs a single top handle with a sculpted flap and a removable shoulder strap. It comes in two constructions: Sellier (rigid, sharp edges) and Retourne (softer, relaxed). Grace Kelly made it famous in 1956, and the house renamed the bag after her.

Retail prices track just under the Birkin, roughly $10,000–$11,500 based on size and leather. Right now the mini Kelly bag (Kelly 20) is the hardest Hermès bag to source, and resale prices frequently double retail.

Kelly vs Birkin in one line: the Kelly is dressier and closes fully with its flap; the Birkin is more casual, roomier, and faster to get in and out of.

Icons You Can Actually Order (No Quota)

You may still wait at busy boutiques, but no annual limit applies to these styles. For plenty of buyers, this is where the smart money lands.

Hermès Constance Bag

This structured shoulder bag with the large "H" clasp is the closest Hermès comes to a logo bag. It transitions from day to night and retains value nearly as well as the quota bags. Retail starts around $8,500 for the Constance 18.

Hermès Evelyne Bag

The Evelyne is the house's casual crossbody bag. It features a perforated "H" front, a tab-closure open top, and a wide canvas strap. Originally built to carry horse-grooming gear — hence the ventilation holes. Priced near $3,500–$4,000, it is one of the easiest everyday Hermès bags to actually own.

reddit is a relaxed double-zip bag that carries by hand or on the shoulder. The soft silhouette has made it a go-to for travel. In recent years the Mini Lindy has turned into the line's trend piece.

Hermès Picotin Bag

The Picotin takes its shape from a horse's feed bag — a small, open bucket design. No lining, no hardware fuss — just a lock-through closure. If you have searched for a Hermès bucket bag, this is the one people mean. With a starting price around $3,000, it regularly comes up as the cheapest leather Hermès bag.

Hermès Garden Party Bag

A practical canvas-and-leather tote for daily errands. The Garden Party serves as the range's workhorse and is one of the simplest styles to locate in a boutique. All-leather versions carry higher prices, while the canvas mix keeps entry costs down.

More Hermès Bag Names You Should Know

There is real depth to the catalog. These names surface again and again in boutiques and across the resale market:

Bolide — a rounded zip-top bag with a claim to being among the first zippered handbags ever made.
Roulis — a compact shoulder bag with a distinctive metal clasp; a quieter alternative to the Constance.
Herbag — canvas construction topped with a Kelly-style leather flap; the bags swap on one frame.
Geta — a small curved Swift-leather crossbody introduced in 2022 and still hard to find.
Victoria — a soft, unstructured travel and everyday tote.
Della Cavalleria — Hermès's saddle bag shape, finished with a clasp borrowed from equestrian hardware.
In-the-Loop — a modern bucket-shaped style, popular in the 18 size on the pre-owned market.
24/24, Halzan, Jypsière, Kelly Danse — flexible shoulder and crossbody styles built to convert between carries.

The Hermès men's bag range is led by the Haut à Courroies — the Birkin's ancestor — alongside the Steve messenger bag and the Cityback line.

Hermès Bag Prices: How Much Is a Hermès Bag?

In short: from around $3,000 to far beyond $100,000. A realistic ladder looks like this:

Entry point (canvas and small leather): Herbag, Garden Party canvas, Picotin — roughly $3,000–$4,500
Everyday leather: Evelyne, Lindy, Bolide — about $3,500–$9,000
The structured icons: Constance, Kelly, Birkin — roughly $8,500–$13,000+ retail
Exotics and rarities: crocodile, ostrich, and limited editions — $30,000 up to six figures

Retail prices climb most years, and quota bags typically resell at 1.5–2x retail.

How to Actually Get a Hermès Bag

Larger boutiques often carry walk-in stock of the Evelyne, Picotin, Garden Party, and similar styles. A Birkin or Kelly realistically comes one of two ways: a purchase history built with a sales associate, or a reputable pre-owned reseller.

If you go pre-owned, authentication is everything. Learn how to tell if a Hermès bag is real before you spend anything: check the heat stamp, the stitching (hand-sewn saddle stitch, slightly angled), the hardware engravings, and the craftsman blind stamp. A fake Hermès bag typically reveals itself through machine-perfect stitching and flimsy hardware. If in doubt, pay for professional authentication — the fee is nothing compared with the bag's price.

Vintage Hermès bags are their own reward. Older Kellys and Bolides frequently cost less than new non-quota styles, with patina no new bag can imitate.

What Should Your First Hermès Bag Be?

Want a single answer? The Evelyne for casual days, the Constance for dressier lifestyles, and the Picotin for the cheapest route into Hermès leather. Save the Birkin or Kelly for when you know the house — or choose authenticated pre-owned and bypass the waitlist completely.

Related reading: our Hermès leather guide and Birkin vs Kelly deep dive.