Here are two facts; equate them if you can. 1) There is a slowdown in consumer spending and 2) exotics (read minks, pythons, feathers, and lizards – in fact, every animal from the encyclopedia) are having a renaissance. Turns out, in the current climate, as people think two and 10 times about what they buy and whether they need to buy it, it is the odd and outré (and often the obscure) that is proving the exception to the rule.

“With exotics there’s a feeling of investment dressing without carrying the obvious insignia or branding,” says Bridget Cosgrave, a buyer for the Matches shops, who notes that all the exotic pieces by Bottega Veneta the store bought this autumn have sold out.