Hermes Kelly Pochette Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware 0Z Vert Comics

Vert Comics is a saturated green with a modern edge, the kind of color that reads black from across a room and unmistakably green once the light hits it. With silver hardware it leans cool and graphic, and Epsom’s pressed grain gives it a matte, even finish.

At 22 cm across, 12 cm high and 7 cm deep, the pochette takes a phone, cards, keys, a compact and a lipstick. The flap folds over the front and locks with the turn-lock, and there are no pockets to fight with, which is what I want in a bag I open one-handed.

Epsom’s rigidity is doing real work on a deep colorway, because a stiff leather shows fewer of the pressure marks that soft greens collect at the flap edge. It also resists rain better than a natural grain. What it will not do is age into softness: five years on, this bag will look almost exactly as it did on day one.

That predictability is either the appeal or the drawback, and for a green I wear with grey and black all year, I will take it.

Green in this depth is easier to style than it sounds: it belongs with tailoring, denim, camel and cream, and it works at night with black. I have carried mine to a wedding and to a supermarket, and it looked right in both places, which is rarer in a small bag than it ought to be. Silver hardware keeps it modern rather than country.