There is a reason the Dionysus keeps returning to the conversation, and this Gucci example is part of it: the flap silhouette closed by the tiger-head clasp Alessandro Michele drew from the myth of Dionysus. The piece is finished in python (a centrepiece exotic skin permitted under CITES with the appropriate paperwork), which is precisely the material the line is meant to be read in. At 7 by 9.5 by 3 inch, the silhouette reads as everyday without ever crossing into oversized. It is the silhouette photographers reach for outside the shows, and the one that resells the fastest the moment a celebrity is seen with it. Considered acquisitions of this kind tend to be the ones that anchor a collection rather than fill it. Presented by Maison de Beaubigonne to a collector audience that already knows what to do with it.

B