Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and with her English grace, natural style and social activism, has died at age 76.

The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy B次元官网网址淛e tB次元官网网址檃ime moi non plusB次元官网网址� (B次元官网网址淚 Love You, Me NeitherB次元官网网址�). BirkinB次元官网网址檚 ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969 duet that helped make her famous and was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.

The style Birkin displayed in the 1960s and early 1970s B次元官网网址� long hair with bangs, jeans paired with white tops, knit mini dresses and basket bags B次元官网网址� still epitomizes the height of French chic for many women around the world.

Birkin was also synonymous with a Hermes bag that bore her name. Created by the Paris fashion house in 1984 in her honor, the Birkin bag became one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 , with a stratospheric price tag and years-long waiting list to buy it.

In her adopted France, Birkin was also celebrated for her political activism and campaigning for Amnesty International, MyanmarB次元官网网址檚 pro-democracy movement, the fight against AIDS and other causes.

B次元官网网址淵ou can always do something,B次元官网网址� Birkin said in 2001, drumming up support for an Amnesty campaign against torture. B次元官网网址淵ou can say, B次元官网网址業 am not OK with that.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

She joined five monks on a march through the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 to demand that Myanmar let foreign aid workers into the country to help cyclone victims.

In 2022, she joined other screen and music stars in France in chopping off in support of protesters in Iran. Charlotte Gainsbourg, BirkinB次元官网网址檚 daughter with Gainsbourg and also an actor in her own right, cut off a snippet of her motherB次元官网网址檚 hair for the B次元官网网址淗airForFreedomB次元官网网址� campaign as Iran was .

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Birkin as a B次元官网网址渃omplete artist,B次元官网网址� noting that her soft voice went hand-in-hand with her B次元官网网址渁rdentB次元官网网址� activism.

B次元官网网址淛ane Birkin was a French icon because she was the incarnation of freedom, sang the most beautiful words of our language,B次元官网网址� he tweeted.

French media reported that Birkin was found dead at her Paris home. The French Culture Ministry tweeted that Birkin died Sunday. It hailed her as a B次元官网网址渢imeless Francophone icon.B次元官网网址�

Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak called Birkin B次元官网网址渢he most French British personB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渢he emblem for a whole epoch who never went out of fashion.B次元官网网址�

Outside BirkinB次元官网网址檚 home on ParisB次元官网网址� Left Bank, fans mourned her death.

B次元官网网址淪he was a poet, a singer, an artist,B次元官网网址� said Marie-Jo Bonnet. B次元官网网址淪he gave the best of herself and thatB次元官网网址檚 marvelous.B次元官网网址�

BirkinB次元官网网址檚 early movie credits included B次元官网网址淏low-UpB次元官网网址� in 1966, credited with helping introduce French audiences to her B次元官网网址淪winging SixtiesB次元官网网址� style and beauty.

Birkin and Gainsbourg met two years later. She remained his muse even after the couple separated in 1980.

She also had a daughter, Kate, with James Bond composer John Barry. Kate Barry died in 2013 at age 46. Birkin had her third daughter, singer and model Lou Doillon, with French director Jacques Doillon.

Birkin suffered from health issues in recent years that kept her from performing and her public appearances became sparse.

French broadcaster BFMTV said Birkin suffered a mild stroke in 2021, forcing her to cancel shows that year. She canceled her shows again in March due to a broken shoulder blade.

A return to performing was put off in May, with the singer saying she needed a bit more time and promising her fans she would see them again come the fall.

Despite her decades-long screen and music career, Birkin suspected that, for some people, the bag named after her might be her most famous legacy.

The fashion accessory was born of a fortuitous encounter on a London-bound flight in the 1980s with the then-head of Hermes, Jean-Louis Dumas. Birkin recounted in subsequent interviews that they got talking after she spilled some of her things on the cabin floor. She asked Dumas why Hermes didnB次元官网网址檛 make a bigger handbag and sketched out on an airplane vomit sack the sort of bag that sheB次元官网网址檇 like.

Dumas then had an example made for her and, flattered, she said yes when Hermes asked whether it could commercialize the bag in her name.

In a CBS Sunday Morning , Birkin joked that it might be what sheB次元官网网址檚 best known for.

B次元官网网址淚 thought, B次元官网网址極h gosh, on my obituary, it will say, B次元官网网址楲ike the bagB次元官网网址� or something,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲ell, it could be worse.B次元官网网址�

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