How to Accessorize Your Hermès Bag

Do you enjoy accessorizing your Hermès bag but wonder if you should? Or do you want to learn how to accessorize Hermès bags like a pro? While some women labor to maintain their luxury handbags in pristine condition, others merrily personalize their bags with scarves and charms. Others even abuse their bags, relishing every abrasion and scar. The latter embraces the “Jane Birkin effect” inspired by the late, legendary Jane Birkin, who inspired the original Birkin bag. These three sides represent very different views of luxury fashion: 

• Some consider luxury bags to be museum-worthy masterpieces that can be treasured and preserved. They wear their bag precisely as it was unboxed, taking exquisite care of it.

• Others embrace the bags as personal possessions they enjoy and personalize. They seek a curated look, thoughtfully accessorizing the bag.

• Many younger collectors view their bags as trusted companions for life’s adventures, proudly displaying every scuff and scar while adding numerous accessories. They consider “more is more,” decorating their Hermès bag with many items, à la Jane Birkin.

Today, let’s explore the middle path and see how to accessorize your Hermès bags with style and restraint.

Why Accessorize Your Hermès Bag?

Accessorizing your Hermès bag personalizes your look, expressing your unique sense of style. While adding metal charms can lightly scuff the leather over time, wrapping colorful Twilly silk scarves around the handles protects them from the oils of your hands while adding considerable flair. So, using accessories for your Hermès bag can add function and beauty. 

Further, accessorizing an Hermès bag says that you can afford to do so. Wearing your beautiful bag for everyday occasions and dressing it up with charms and scarves demonstrates that you use and enjoy your luxury items (and implies you have many more). It says they are part of your life rather than the point of it.

Popular Accessories for Hermès Bags

The most popular accessories for personalizing your Hermès bag are Twillies and Hermès charms. 

Accessorizing with Hermès Twillies

There are roughly a zillion and a half ways to customize your look with Hermès Twillies. When accessorizing Hermès bags, wrap the scarves around the rigid handle of your Birkin or Kelly bag or simply tie the scarf into a knot or a bow. For other bags with shoulder straps, knot the Twilly at the base of the strap, letting the ends drape.

Accessorizing with Hermès Charms

There are many Hermès charm styles for personalizing your bag. The most popular include:

• Rodeo: Crafted in three sizes and up to three colorways per charm, the three-dimensional leather horse (or pegasus) is far and away the most popular charm. 

• Oran Nano: A miniature of the iconic Oran sandal, this charm lends a casual, beachy flair to any Hermès bag.

• Micro Handbag: These charms are perfectly functional miniature Birkin and Kelly bags, adorable whimsy for your bag. Most pair the charm with the same style bag, rocking the double bag trend. Some Kelly charms even sport a miniature Twilly! Fabulous.

Most find Twillies and Hermès charms essential for accessorizing Hermès bags. 

Creative Tips for Decorating Your Hermès Bags

Those who want the full Jane Birkin effect called “Jane Birkifinication” add scarves, charms, metal jewelry, stuffed toys, feathers, keychains, ribbons, and more to their Hermès bags. Some people even paint or bedazzle their Birkin and Kelly bags, creating one-of-a-kind bags. 

We’re focusing on how to accessorize Hermès bags to express your personal style. For that curated effect, harmony, rather than matching, is your goal. Add one, two, three (or more) accessories to your bag, choosing each one from different categories:

• Silk scarf

• Rodeo charm

• Oran Nano

• Micro Handbag

• Metal charm

• Rope charm

• Beaded charm

• Stuffed toy bag charms

When two or more different accessories from the same category are added to a single bag, the viewer can’t fully appreciate any of them. However, using two or more different accessories enhances and individualizes your bag. For a pale yellow Kelly bag, you might add a Twilly wrapped around the handle with a pattern in white, royal blue, yellow, and a bit of pink. The scarf brings the bag to life. You can add whimsy with a matching multi-colored beaded bag charm. Then, complete the look with a bedazzled rodeo charm that adds sparkle to the look. For a Birkin in a neutral shade, a bright-colored Twilly makes the bag pop. Add a rare Hermès berloque bag charm that matches the bag’s hardware. Or go all out and add an initial charm, rope charms, beaded charms reflecting your personality.

Accessorizing Hermès Bags: Dos and Don’ts

When learning how to accessorize Hermès bags, there are several dos and don’ts to follow to achieve a curated effect.

Do:

• Create harmony through colorways

• Choose the proper scale of charms to bag

• Experiment with placement for scarves and charms

• Dress up your bag in ways that reflect your personality

• Accessorize all the bag styles; they deserve the love

Don’t:

• Only style with Hermès charms

• Choose matchy-matchy colors or charms

• Use big charms on small bags

• Be afraid to try new combinations

Personalize Your Hermès Bag with Style

While there is an easy and hard way to buy an Hermès bag, enjoying it should be uncomplicated. Decide whether you prefer to wear your bag unadorned, accessorized, or Birkinified — and enjoy it. The bag is yours, and you deserve to enjoy it to the fullest. 

Now that you know how to accessorize your Hermès bag, play with the various options to express your style and personality.