Hermes Evelyne 29 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Silver Hardware 7T Blue Electric

There is blue, and then there is Blue Electric, a saturated, almost luminous shade that refuses to be a background colour. I bought mine for travel photos, and it turned out to be brilliant for something else entirely: finding my bag instantly in a hotel room or a coat check pile.

Twenty-nine centimetres by thirty by eight is a shape that sits close and stays put, which is what I want in an airport. Passport sleeve, phone, power bank, snacks and a lightweight scarf all fit with room left for a flat water bottle, and the outside slip pocket keeps boarding documents apart from everything else. The strap adjusts long enough to wear over a coat, though I usually wear it under one at security. For all that travelling, the bag wipes clean with a dry cloth and has kept its colour even, which is more than I can say for the suitcase it accompanies.

Clemence handles strong colours well because the grain breaks up light across the surface, so the blue looks deep rather than flat. The trade-off is the usual one with this leather: it is soft, so the bag folds and shifts rather than holding a boxy shape, and lighter blues on soft hides can darken slightly where hands rub.

Silver-tone hardware is the right call here, keeping the whole thing crisp. If your travel wardrobe runs to grey and navy, this bag is the easiest way to make it look deliberate.