By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-24 22:16:29 | Updated at 2024-11-25 00:27:59
2 hours ago
A woman has painstakingly recreated her very own Hermès Kelly bag for $940 - a fraction of the iconic handbag's hefty price tag.
Brooke Denault decided to take on the tedious task of creating a custom version of the world's most coveted purse in March because she 'thought it would be intriguing.'
In November, she shared videos of the approximate 40-hour process on TikTok as Brooke told DailyMail.com she's just 'a pretty average person trying to make a bag.'
Denault - who works alongside her husband Michael at their company Makers Workshop in Maynard, Massachusetts - used an array of supplies to remake the luxury handbag, including chipboard, paper towels, cardboard and faux hot pink crocodile leather.
A real Kelly bag - with the same fuchsia crocodile finish and sellier palladium hardware - is currently on resale at auction house Sotheby's for $72,870.
Throughout the grueling process, Brooke remained very transparent about her version of the purse as she admitted that she didn't 'perfectly recreate' it, but still thinks that if someone were to see it on the street, at first glance, it might seem real.
The skilled maker also noted the cost of every single product she used, as she spent about $250 on leather, around $90 on hardware, and approximately $600 in labor costs, coming out to a total of $940 - not including the use of her $16,000 laser cutter that helped her along the way.
She revealed that the stitching time on the bag was 'substantial', as she praised the trained artisans who hand stitch each bag for the high-end French handbag company.
'Supposedly, a Kelly bag has 26,000 stitches, and takes a trained artisan 25 hours - which sounds pretty reasonable when I first heard it - but now that I've done this, no, that's incredibly fast,' Brooke said.
Brooke Denault, a skilled maker, decided to recreate her very own Hermès Kelly bag, as she documented the entire process on TikTok
The skilled maker also noted the cost of every single product she used, as she spent about $250 on leather, around $90 on hardware, and approximately $600 in labor costs, coming out to a total of $940
'I'm not even remotely, even close to that pace with my laser cut holes that are kind of cheating in the first place.'
The craftswoman calculated that her total labor cost came out to about $600, as she took 40 hours creating it and multiplied it by the minimum wage in her area- $15 an hour.
Her journey started at the beginning of November as she shared a video on how her idea came to life.
Brooke first got a 'patten honed in' by tracing over images of the luxury bags before she took to her giant laser cutter to slice up pieces of chipboard - a material made of wood pieces and epoxy resin.
‘Pattern making and laser cutting is in my comfort zone,' Brooke told DailyMail.com.
The laser created all of the tiny stitching holes that she replicated from the pictures of the Kelly bags.
As the process continued, she started to grow worried about getting all of the stitching correct, but remained positive and kept working away.
She then used hot glue to build the base of the bag as she took the time to explain the deep-rooted history of the purse.
The bag was originally launched as a saddle bag and called the Sac à Dépêches,' Koffsky, previously explained to DailyMail.com.
The former CEO of Hermès, Robery Dumas, created the staple bag in 1935.
An authentic hot pink crocodile leather Hermès Kelly bag (pictured) cost $98,000, but Brooke made her replica for just $980
It wasn't until American actress Grace Kelly got her hands on the bag that the name was altered, as she was iconically snapped using the bag to cover her baby bump from paparazzi after announcing her engagement to Prince Rainer of Monaco.
In 1977, the purse's name was officially changed to the Kelly bag, in honor of the princess and movie star.
'It comes in so many colors, and leather types, and hardware types and sizes at this point,' Brooke explained.
'At this point, no two are the same, which I think hikes up the price on that resale market in a major way - especially for unique colors, textures, and things like that.'
Dedicated shoppers have to go out of their way to snag the purses, which are made in a limited supply, and are normally only offered to clients who have an extensive purchasing history with the brand.
The iconic bag has been worn for years by celebrities, like Sofia Richie Grainge, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez.
She jokingly said that if Hermès were to actually create a cardboard Kelly bag it would probably do very well and 'be worth a lot.'
The next step was to cover the base of the homemade bag in leather, which Brooke ordered herself from a company.
She then attached all of the hardware on that she bought from a seller on Etsy.
'This is the hide of a hot pink croc. No it's not. Looks like it though,' she said.
Genuine Hermès Kelly bags are made out of real crocodile, alligator skins and luxe leathers - adding to the enormous value of the purses.
In 1977, the purse's name was officially changed to the Kelly bag, in honor of Princess and American movie star Grace Kelly after she was spotted using the iconic purse to shield her baby bump in 1956
The iconic bag has been worn for years by celebrities, like Sofia Richie Grainge, (pictured) who sported a Kelly bag in a dark wine color
Brooke soon added some upholstery material she had laying around to create the inner liner for her bag.
She then secured the nude-striped fabric to the faux leather with a 'very very generous coating' of spray glue on half of the material.
'This was stressful. I didn't want to mess up so bad,' she admitted before she placed painter's tape on top of the fabric and placed it in the laser cutter.
Despite adding 'crazy smudgeness' to the inside of the leather from the laser cutter, Brooke proceeded to paint the edges of the leather with a matching pink edge coat.
Once that dried, she started the taxing process of stitching the leather with pink string to attach straps.
'I'll be here for the next month sewing,' she joked.
To finally complete the recreation, Brooke used a bungee cord to replicate the handbag's strap.
She described how it took her nearly a day to stitch the cord to a strip of leather, after she removed its metal pieces and used matches to get rid of the frays at the end.
'We have a finished bag. The inside kind of looks wild, but I kind of like that even better than if it came out perfect,' Brooke said as she placed the final touchings on the purse.
She then wrapped a silk scarf on the handle of the purse, to truly replicate a Kelly bag.
'Even if I had perfectly recreated a Kelly, which I didn't - it still wouldn't be a Kelly bag.
'It's not gonna appreciate in value. It's not an investment for that reason. It doesn't have the weight and history of the Hermès label behind it,' Brooke added.
Although she knew that the bag would never come close to the actual thing, Brooke said she became 'very emotionally attached' to the bag after spending hours upon hours making it.
'I feel like if I was walking past someone quickly, you probably wouldn't notice that it wasn't one, but if this was sitting next to an actual Kelly, it would be pretty darn obvious which one was mine,' she said.
Brooke said she will not be selling the bag, and will be keeping it for herself.
She said she is considering selling the pattern, but only after she tweaks it to her liking because she only sells her world when its 'quality is 100 percent.'
