Hermes New H Passant Compact Wallet Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather D2 New Blue Jean

New Blue Jean is the colour of a denim shirt rather than a raw jean: a mid-blue with a little grey in it, softer than royal and lighter than navy. On a slim H Passant with silver hardware it reads casual first and formal second, which suits the way I actually carry a wallet.

Closed it is 18.5 by 12 cm and a touch under two centimetres thick, opening flat into a body with card slots, a note section and a shallow zip. The small H detail is barely visible in this colour until the light catches it, which I count as a feature.

For travel this is my aeroplane wallet: four cards, a boarding pass folded once, notes in two currencies, coins in the zip for the last leg home. Because the shell is firm Epsom, the flap does not develop a curl at the corner the way softer leathers do.

Two honest observations. Mid-blue shows fingerprints less than black but more than grey, and the fabric of a raw denim pocket can transfer onto the back panel over time, which a weekly cloth prevents. Everything else about it has been straightforward: calm, useful and easy to match.

A note on pairing, since blue can be fussy: this mid-blue sits comfortably with grey, stone and olive, and with denim, which is where it began. Kept away from navy suits, where it can look accidental, it reads as one of the most relaxed colours in the range and one of the easiest to live with.