KEY POINTS:
It must have been one of those pivotal fashion moments. You know, the sort that you often read about, but, because you live in New Zealand, you're unlikely ever to be a part of.
Like being in the Parisian salon when Christian Dior sent out the first of his New Look dresses. Or running into the Sex Pistols shopping in Vivienne Westwood's London store for the first time. Or seeing Grace Kelly pick out the Hermes handbag that would eventually bear her name.
Patrick Guerrand-Hermes was there for the latter anyway.
He's one of the Hermes family who's no longer working fulltime for the business, and he's heading to New Zealand this week as president of the Federation of International Polo.
And, although the Frenchman is really just here for the horses and maybe some New Zealand knitwear (on the phone from Paris he tells me he's wearing a possum-down jumper because it's cold there) you can bet he's bringing some fabulous fashion tales with him.
Like this one: "So Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier were just married when they came by, and I was going down to pay my respects to Prince Rainier. By the time I went down she had already chosen the bag. I don't even know what the name of that bag was before she chose it. And she said, 'I want it in blue, in beige and a few other colours.' And he was so much in love he bought five different colours for her. Then for the following five or six months, until Caroline was born, every time there was a photo she would hold the bag in front of her stomach, to protect the unborn baby, you see.
"They never mentioned it was a Hermes bag but those photos went all over the world. And the people who knew, they knew only Hermes could do this. And we went from 60 customers to 3000 for this bag."
Which is why that particular model of luxury handbag came to be known by bag fanciers everywhere as the Kelly.
Guerrand-Hermes was also around when the even more fabulous Birkin bag came to be. Legend has it Jane Birkin, the English actress and singer, was getting on the same plane as Hermes' then President, Jean-Louis Dumas. She was having trouble getting her large, messy handbag into the plane's overhead locker.
"So he said, 'Why don't you come to the office and make the changes you want [ for your own bag]?' So she came and she spent quite some time; she went to the workshop, she made quite a few changes from the Kelly. And that became the Birkin.
"The other day [ Birkin] was told 'Oh, so you have the same name as the bag'.
"She was not recognised, but the bag was. But she didn't mind, she's very modest and she just laughed."
Such is the power of this It bag. Back then there was no such thing as an It bag. The high-fashion, all-singing, all-dancing, tasselled, fringed and studded It bag we know today has only really been around since the late 90s. Which is possibly why Hermes, who started off making saddles, can be credited with coming up with some of the very first It bags ever, more than 20 years ago.
It's possibly also why one vintage Birkin bag in black, crocodile with diamonds, went for around $95,000 at auction a couple of years back.
And it's why those on the waiting list for this bag (they start at $5,000 and are still hand-crafted by Parisian artisans) have to wait up to two years for one.
Apparently the more important you are, the faster you get one. And yes, Guerrand-Hermes does get inquiries.
"They're not usually that blunt," he says, laughing, "But I do sometimes wonder why I am on so many people's guest lists. And sometimes I am surprised. I don't want to name anyone but one time a husband - he's very close to royalty, not British royalty though - called me in the evening and I can hear the voice of his wife behind. And he says 'Patrick, I'm terribly sorry but they have told her she has to wait six months'."
Things have changed a lot since the Birkin and the Kelly were first named for their stylish owners.
Now it seems there are about a dozen contenders for It bag of the season, every season, all with strange names and all at the same high prices.
So how does an old family firm, renowned for its quality, craftsmanship and high prices, deal with this?
Do they join in the race and get all trendy?
"I hate to speak of us as being above anyone, but we are perhaps sideways," Guerrand-Hermes reasons.
That sounds fair - Hermes is fairly covert luxury.
It doesn't use celebrities to endorse its products.
The low-key Birkin can be customised when it's ordered but it never really changes.
And, alongside the bags and scarves, Hermes still make the saddles they started their leather goods company with.
"Quality is something you live with, that you cherish," says Guerrand-Hermes, who still likes his Hermes saddle best of all.
"And the people who want our bags are sensitive to tradition and quality as well as fashion."
