Hermes Kelly Pochette Handmade In KK Ostrich Leather from South Africa Gold Hardware 73 Blue Saphir

Ostrich is the leather people reach out and touch without asking. The quill follicles lift the surface into a pattern of raised dots, and in Blue Saphir each one makes the color shift slightly, so the bag looks alive in a way smooth leathers never do.

The Kelly Pochette in ostrich is still a 22 cm hand carry: 12 cm tall, 7 cm through the gusset, with the single top handle and the front flap. Mine holds a phone, a cardholder, keys and a lipstick with the turn-lock closing cleanly. It weighs almost nothing, which is the hidden advantage of the skin.

Ostrich is soft, strong and famously light, and unlike alligator it will flex slightly with use, so the flap develops a gentle curve rather than a hard crease. It is sensitive to dryness, though, and those raised follicles are the first place damage shows. A light conditioning on the flap and handle once a year is enough.

Keep it off hot surfaces and out of a hot car, and it stays supple and bright.

Would I pick ostrich over crocodile for a pochette? For softness and weight, yes, and the pattern is easier to live with, because a knock that would lift a crocodile scale disappears into the quill grain. For structure, no. Ostrich moves with the bag, which makes it the friendlier exotic for weekly use rather than twice a year. Mine has been to more dinners than anything else I own.