Hermes Kelly Mini 2424 24/24 Bag 21CM Handmade In Evercolor and Swift Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware 0L Gris Meyer

Hardware changes a grey more than it changes almost any other colour. With silver, Gris Meyer is cool and architectural; with gold, the same leather reads stony and a little warmer, like limestone at the end of an afternoon. This is the version I bought after seeing both. It taught me never to choose a grey from photographs alone.

A 21-centimetre bag measured the ordinary way, twenty-one by sixteen by twelve, in pressed Evercolor with Swift under the flap. The gold gives the exterior a soft cast that photographs flat but lives richer, and the interior stays pale enough that I can find things in it.

Phone, keys, a card case and a roll of mints fit with the flap closing happily. I take it to museums where large bags are banned at the door, and the strap sits short on the shoulder while I stand in front of paintings for an hour at a time. The bag has also been to three bookshops this month, which is its own kind of field test.

My one note: soft greys like this show handling marks on the flap, the faint sheen your thumb leaves after a month of openings. It wipes away, but it does ask for the habit, and I would rather tell you now than have you notice it in a year.

Chosen by eye over the silver version and kept for the warmth; it is a bag I stopped second-guessing a long time ago. If you are torn between two hardware tones on any grey, my advice is simple: look at both in daylight, then pick the one that matches your winter coat.