ACCESSORIES

A $75,000 Handbag for Cat Lovers?

Hermès makes one, natch.


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It should come as little surprise that artists, being seductive creatures before whose eye nothing passes unobserved and unmolested by judgment, are cat people. Ai Weiwei allows scores of them to roam his Beijing studio; Walton Ford has painted some fearsome species on a fearsomely large scale. And on the 10th anniversary of the death of the French wildlife illustrator Robert Dallet, Hermès has produced six one-of-a-kind pieces starring his leopards and tigers—including a handbag valued at around $75,000—that will be auctioned off at a gala dinner tonight at Connecticut’s Bruce Museum, which will open a Dallet exhibition next week. The proceeds will benefit Panthera, the wild cat conservation organization. Cats: they may act like they don’t need you, but what love is worthwhile that is easily acquired?