Hermès Kelly 35 in Noir Matte Alligator with So Black PVD hardware

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The Sold Archive

Hermès Kelly 35 SO Black Matte Alligator Black Hardware

Placed

Realized: $100,000–150,000

Condition: 1 – Pristine
Material: Matte Alligator
Color: So Black
Metallic finish: Black PVD

The story behind the Kelly

Created in the 1930s by Robert Dumas as a women's bag with straps: a trapezoid with two triangular gussets, a cutout flap, a handle and two side straps. It took the Kelly name in 1956, when Grace Kelly made it famous. Sellier construction keeps the seams on the outside for a more defined outline; Retourné construction turns them inside for softer edges. The leather does not decide the construction: Box calf Kellys are recorded in both.

So Black was Jean Paul Gaultier's 2010 farewell collection for Hermès: black PVD-coated hardware against black hide, one collection, never repeated. On the Kelly the treatment reads most dramatic, the blacked-out turn-lock vanishing against matte Mississippiensis alligator, whose unbuffed surface absorbs light and deepens the monochrome.

Interior is lined in matching Chèvre with one zip pocket and two slip pockets. Single top handle with detachable shoulder strap.

Collector's Insight:
So Black Kellys surface at auction less frequently than the Birkins, and alligator examples are the scarcest tier of a program that ended with Gaultier's departure. The monochrome reads strongest on the Kelly's lines, where hardware normally punctuates the silhouette.

Resale Insight:
A So Black matte crocodile Birkin 30 brought over $200,000 at auction in 2019, and the configuration class has only tightened since, with remaining supply concentrated in collector hands.

Source this configuration

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