Lauren Sanchez was reportedly one of the mysterious Sotheby's customers who competed for 13 minutes, bidding hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their hands on the fabulous first Birkin bag created by Hermès for Jane Birkin in 1984 and sold yesterday in Paris for over 8.6 million euros , an all-time record for this type of accessory.
Robb Report, a US magazine specializing in the luxury sector, reveals: the new Mrs. Bezos, who married Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in Venice at the end of June, apparently didn't bid enough, and the original Birkin was ultimately purchased by a mysterious Japanese collector. Kris Jenner was also reportedly in the running at the start of the bidding war: the matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner clan has an entire closet in her Californian villa dedicated to Hermès bags valued at a combined half a million dollars. Unfortunately for both, however, it was a third party who won the less-than-perfect black leather bag with the final bid of seven million dollars, plus the auction fee.
For Sanchez, a former journalist and helicopter pilot, there may be a consolation prize in sight: according to the Daily Mail, Bezos is planning to buy her none other than Vogue, the glossy magazine currently directed by Anna Wintour, who featured her on the cover of the June digital issue in a Dolce & Gabbana wedding dress, which, according to the most reliable gossip, Wintour herself gave her imprimatur.
While Condé Nast, of which Vogue is one of the crown jewels, maintains that its publishing brands are not for sale, recent cost-cutting measures—including international layoffs and the downsizing of the London office, which moved to a WeWork space—have raised suspicions, making a transaction plausible. "Everyone in the fashion world and within Vogue is talking about the rumor that Jeff is buying Condé Nast," a source confided to the Mail on Sunday, while another insider suggested that the cover featuring Sanchez in a wedding dress was a gesture to curry favor with Bezos, thus suggesting that the Newhouse family, which owns the publishing group, might be open to a deal.
The Condé Nast group is valued at $5 billion: while sources close to Bezos, who already owns the Washington Post, have denied any interest in a new purchase, other sources claim that Wintour herself is negotiating a deal behind the scenes.
(Unioneonline)
