And while the community center is meant for all, Fraga, whose yearly mayoral salary is $77,587, carried a status symbol affording her entry into a decidedly more exclusive club. In the photo gallery Fraga posted on her social media pages, New Times noticed she sported an iconic fashion symbol: an Hermès Birkin bag that costs between $25,000 to $30,000. (The French luxury fashion house is pronounced "air-MEZ," for the record).
For those of you who are not the most fashionable, the Birkin is not your run-of-the-mill handbag. It is a symbol of wealth and luxury. Some view it as an investment, akin to buying stocks in publicly traded companies or acquiring fine art.
According to James Firestein, founder of luxury resale and authentication provider OpenLuxury, a Birkin bag can cost more than $40,000, depending on its materials.
"It's the combination of both the craftsmanship — you're buying into the heritage — as well as the exclusivity factor," Firestein tells New Times. "That is why it's become the holy grail in the fashion industry. Because compared to ready-to-wear, anyone can go into a store and buy, given the price point is reasonable to them. This kind of luxury space is a step above, where's it's kind of an exclusive club that you have to buy into."
Christi Fraga is part of an exclusive club of Birkin owners.
Photo via Facebook/Christine(Christi)Fraga
Back in 1984, then-Hermès executive chairman Jean-Louis Dumas was sitting on a plane to London from Paris next to actress Jane Birkin, who complained that she struggled to find a large leather bag suitable for her as a mother of three. He asked her to draw what she envisioned, and she did — on one of the plane vomit bags no less — Birkin told CNN. Voilà, the Birkin was born.
The tote quickly became a status symbol, thanks to its exclusive nature. Before the birth of luxury consignment stores and online resale sites, the only way to purchase a Birkin bag was by visiting an Hermès boutique and having purchase history with the brand, as the fashion house only sells a limited number per year.
"You would have to get on a client list with Hermès, make purchase orders up to a certain amount, and get offered an item eventually. No promises," Firestein, who previously worked as the director of authentication at luxury handbag marketplace Rebag, tells New Times. "It's completely at the sales associate's discretion as well as the company's."
These days, Firestein says the resale market has lifted that veil of exclusivity, all while driving up prices. Purchasing the bag from the retail store is the least expensive option, he notes, where the smallest Birkin bag starts at $12,000 in the United States. It comes in four standard sizes: 25, 30, 35, and 40 centimeters.
"The smaller bags are still pricing higher on the resale market than they are on the retail market," he says.
As for what Fraga is carrying, Firestein says it appears to be the Etoupe 25-centimeter Birkin with palladium, AKA silver tone hardware, and made out of Togo leather (crafted from calfskin). He adds that the bag appears to be the real deal despite the rise of superfakes, which he says are nearly identical unless you look very closely at them.
"I don't see anything [wrong], even down to the protective plastic that is still attached to the hardware," he shares.
Doral Mayor Christi Fraga dresses for the occasion.
Photo via Facebook/Christine(Christi)Fraga
"It's become less of an esoteric item that's only worn in high end events and high end environments," Firestein tells New Times. "It's become more practical and I think that's partly because of the ubiquity of it and the retail market. Also, culturally, we have become more, for a lack of a better term, stunted."
