Hermes Kelly 2424 24/24 Bag 21CM Handmade In Evercolor and Swift Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware OG Rouge Sellier 90 Rramboise

Two reds, one bag: Rouge Sellier’s deep brick and Framboise’s bright raspberry, with gold hardware keeping the temperature warm. Red is the colour I wear when I want to arrive somewhere, and this mini announces me politely. Rouge Sellier does the serious work, Framboise brings the mischief, and the gold fittings referee.

Sixteen centimetres of height on a twenty-one centimetre base, Evercolor where the structure matters and Swift where the flap needs to soften. The two reds separate cleanly in daylight and blur kindly in the evening, which makes the bag feel like two bags. Pressed grain holds a deep red better than a smooth hide would; there is no patchiness anywhere in it.

It carries keys, a phone, a card case and a small perfume atomiser, and it has sat through more dinners than any other bag I own without ever being in the way on a chair. A red bag also solves the coat-check problem, a fate I have suffered with black ones.

Even I do not wear it head to toe. Red on red is a lot; against denim, cream or grey it does everything. My honest advice: buy it if you already own a neutral mini, not instead of one. Wear it three times a week and it becomes a signature; wear it daily and it becomes a uniform. Either is fine by me.

Second red bags are for people who have learned that colour does more for a wardrobe than anything else in it.