Hermes Lindy 30 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Gold Hardware Z6 Malachite

Green is the colour this year, they keep saying, and then it keeps being the colour every year. Malachite is a gem-green with depth – darker than emerald, closer to the stone it is named for – and in Clemence’s matte grain it looks like the paint on a good library door.

The Lindy 30 in this colour is a character bag. Thirty by nineteen by sixteen centimetres, soft and folding at the top, with gold hardware that draws out the yellow in the green. The two rolled handles are for carrying by hand; the strap lets it ride at the hip when I am walking between meetings.

Contents, honestly: a tablet, a long wallet, a make-up pouch, sunglasses and a slim bottle fit fine; a full A4 folder stretches the slouch into something heavier-looking. The exterior pockets take my phone and keys, and the little clasps are stiff for the first few weeks before loosening.

One thing to know: Clemence green will show a light abrasion as a pale scuff on the bottom corners sooner than darker colours, and because the leather is matte you cannot polish it out, only blend it. Mine wore two small corner marks in the first month and I have made peace with them.

For anyone tired of neutrals, it is the most confident bag in my rotation. In winter it lifts an all-black outfit, and in spring it holds its own beside white denim.