Hermes Kelly Mini 2 19 CM Bag Handmade In Alligator Leather From Mississippi Silver Hardware 5J Fushsia

Fuchsia is a colour that either commits or fails, and on alligator it commits fully: the scales multiply the intensity, catching light and throwing it back in a hundred small pieces. I carried this to a summer party and it out-sparkled the jewellery in the room. There is no subtle way to wear it, and that is the appeal.

Mississippi alligator is farmed stock, finished to an even scale pattern, and this is the kind of piece that shows what the hide can do when the tanneries take a risk on colour. Silver hardware is the cool counterweight the pink needs; gold would have pushed it toward candy, while silver keeps it on the edge of neon.

At 19cm the bag takes an evening purse-load, phone, cards, a keyring, a lipstick, and the scale surface means a wipe-down is about all the care it needs after a night out. Keep perfumes and hand cream away from the finish, as with any exotic.

An honest word: this is a bag for people who are comfortable being asked about their bag. If that sounds tiring, choose mauve or noir in the same leather. If it sounds fun, nothing else here comes close.

Paired with black linen in high summer, or a white dress that needs one jolt, it behaves like jewellery you can hold a phone in. Nothing else in my wardrobe has the same effect per gram, which sounds like faint praise and is meant as the opposite.