Hermes Kelly Pochette Handmade In Niloticus Leather from Nile Silver Hardware Himalaya

The Himalaya colorway is a gradient, pale snow at the flap and handle and deepening toward the base, and on Nile crocodile the effect is at its best, because the shifting tones follow the scale pattern in a way printed leather cannot imitate.

This is the same 22 cm pochette frame, 12 cm tall with a 7 cm gusset, one wrist handle, and a flap with the turn-lock over the front. It takes a phone, a cardholder, keys and a lipstick comfortably. I have carried mine to winter parties in a pale dress, and it looked as though it had been chosen with the outfit rather than after it.

Firm Niloticus keeps the bag’s architecture intact no matter how lightly you pack, and the light colors are easier to live with than they look, because the gradient hides small marks at the edges. Still, this is not a bag for a rainy day, and it does not enjoy being left in the sun, since pale exotic leather will darken unevenly if it is.

A dust bag and a dry shelf, and the gradient stays as it left the workshop.

Worth knowing: on a gradient like this, any darkening from sun will be most visible at the pale end, so a dust bag and a shelf away from windows are not optional. Handled that way, the pale tones have stayed exactly as they arrived, and the deep ones keep the contrast that makes the colorway work at all.