Hermès Minaudière: small bags with a big story

We can't get enough of these Hermès minodiers from the spring 2025 collection.

By the way, do you know what a minodiere is? This is a miniature handbag case with a rigid frame that keeps only the most necessary things. The name comes from the French word "minaudière", which means "to flirt", "to simper". There are two versions of the origin of the minodiere.

The first and most popular. It is believed that the minodiere appeared in the 1920s thanks to Charles Arpels, the manager of the Paris boutique of the Van Cleef jewelry house & Arpels. One day, during a meeting with his friend Florence Jay Gould, Charles Arpels saw that she was putting her lipstick, powder and other small things in a tin cigarette box.

The second version is slightly older. The first minodiere was created in the 1840s in France. Its creator was the famous milliner Rosa Bertin. She came up with a small clutch with a long strap that could be worn on the wrist or around the neck. Initially, minodiers were used exclusively for storing coins, keys and mirrors.