Gazing beneath her trademark bangs, Jane Birkin’s eyes dart between Gainsbourg and the distance, revealing curiosity and flirtation, in the film Slogan. The 1969 flick where Birkin and Gainsbourg met jumpstarted the couple’s 12-year marriage. Like Fellini’s 8 ½, Slogan centers around a male director, and while Gainsbourg’s character speaks, Birkin’s barely does. She’s all smiles. “You look like holidays,” Gainsbourg tells her, solidifying her position on a pedestal.  

Recognizing her precarious positioning, Marisa Meltzer initiates It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin with an Oscar Wilde quote: “To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.”

In addition to this October 7 release, Meltzler has written investigative books in the fashion and beauty realm covering companies like Glossy, Weight Watchers and Sassy Magazine. In this biography, Meltzler guides us through Birkin’s many career highlights in film and music, but she also walks us through heartwarming moments. Some of these include sharing how Gainsbourg mesmerized at the Hotel des Beaux Arts sharing “Je t’aime moi non plus” before its release. Others involve sharing how Birkin became acquainted with Paris while falling in love with the famed singer-songwriter and the serendipitous conversation with an Hermès executive that would lead to the creation of the bag of her namesake.

Of course, Meltzler guides us through some of Birkin’s stylistic choices in the book. “I think she bought things that were true to herself,” Meltzler shares with me. “She wasn’t a very trendy dresser. She knew what she liked and what worked on her. But she just had that inimitable way of wearing it.”

Her signature look started with miniskirts, ballet flats, and a woven basket used as an accessory. Flared jeans, white tees and crochet dresses were also linked to her style. Later in life, her signatures evolved into trousers and cashmere sweaters. She even managed to bring her casual, cool approach to her lived-in Birkin.

As the epitome of French-girl style, it’s no secret that Birkin is globally recognized as one of fashion’s great muses. When asked about the it-girl concept, Meltzer shares, “You know it when you see it. It’s hard to describe, but you innately know. Being a multihyphenate helps. Having a career that is diverse and involves a lot of dabbling is often good. And I think it has to be something bestowed upon you.” 

Duality seems interwoven into the concept and into Birkin’s life. French and English speaking. London born but living in France. A striking blue-globe gaze accompanied by a gap-toothed smile. And she was certainly a multi-hyphenate. 

In her book, Metzler highlights Birkin’s comfort with reinvention. But she doesn’t shy away from the less magnetic—and more human—side of her. Birkin did often seem like arm candy to Serge Gainsbourg, and the author writes that she “came across like the glorified accessory to the latest Mercurial man in her life.” 

With us, Meltzler shares that “she wasn’t just this kind of carefree girl-woman. She was a person with kids and problems, and her life was playing out in this rarified field. But, in a lot of ways, she went through highs and lows that anyone had.” 

What makes Birkin—and It Girl—so interesting is not just focusing on the façade of the “it girl,” but learning about her other facets. These include Birkin as an activist, mother and grandmother. And highlighting how her reinvention and rejection of perpetual girlhood was embraced through career moves—as well as her stylistic decisions to eschew trends and embrace menswear. Meltzler reveals what much of society has ignored about Birkin: her humanity.

But for an it-girl and the honoring of one’s own humanity, perhaps an elusiveness or hint of mystery is vital. Today’s viral what’s-in-my-bag trend is intended to lift the veil draped between a celebrity’s private and public life. It has been performed by countless, A-list celebrities. But the trend can be traced back to Birkin famously dumping the contents of her eponymous bag in the 1988 French documentary Jane B by Agnes V. In the film, Birkin asks and answers, “Find out anything after seeing what’s in the bag? Even when you show it all, you reveal very little.”