The answer: seemingly limitless. The Dior Men Charm bag is the latest of artistic director Kim Jones’ contemporary take on Dior’s storied heritage.

Familiar motifs have taken on new forms before. We saw how Jones supercharged renewed interest in the classic Saddle bag by reimagining it with a Matthew M Williams-designed buckle. Jones also introduced sneakers into the house’s design vocabulary by featuring either the Dior Oblique or in the case of the B30, a streamlined, sporty CD logo. This time, Jones has taken things up a few notches by combining two.

For a start, the Dior Charm bag features a clasp adapted from the hardware of the iconic Lady Dior in the house’s women’s universe. While the original motif consists of connected letters, D, I, O and R (of course), as mobile charms in a calculated arrangement, the Dior Charm of the men’s universe is rendered as a single plaque fashioned from the same characters, with the ‘O’ as the base. It sports an antique silver finish for a grittier look that distinguishes itself from that of the Lady Dior.

But the immediate defining characteristic of the Dior Charm bag is the Cannage motif that completely envelopes the piece. The Cannage Cosmo leather—first introduced by Jones in Summer 2023—is a slightly blown-up version of the original Cannage and translated as a whole laser-cut cage stitched onto smooth calfskin. A true testament to the skills of the Dior artisans, the topstitching is thoroughly precise and serves to enhance the encasement of the motif. In the Dior Charm’s grey and black iterations, they’re subtle and sleek; the Cannage is decidedly bold in the cognac colourway, especially against the antique silver-finish hardware.

Jones is no stranger to referencing the house’s women’s universe and transmuting these references into what would later become key motifs of Dior Men. The Dior Charm is one of those once-in-a-lifetime lightbulb moments that seem so obvious now that it’s been realised. Having it as part of a new bag like the aptly named Dior Charm bag and then combining it with an equally iconic motif like the Cannage (but once again, reworked) is genius.

The past is often revisited in luxury fashion, especially when a great deal of history and heritage are involved. But sometimes, the past whispers fresh ideas, and Jones is the reigning master of listening to them.