Hermes R.M.S. Passport Holder Handmade In Evecolor Calfskin Leather Enamel Fittings Hardware 9J Feu Orange

Feu means fire, and this orange has that quality: it is warm, slightly red, and impossible to overlook. On a passport holder that is a practical virtue as much as an aesthetic one, since the only thing worse than losing a passport is turning a bag inside out to find it.

The R.M.S. cover measures 13.5 by 9.5 cm, sized for a standard booklet with a centimetre of play at the fold, and it is finished in Evecolor calfskin whose fine grain keeps the orange from looking flat under airport lighting. The enamel fittings echo the warmth of the leather rather than contrasting with it.

In use it has been straightforward: passport in, a folded itinerary behind it, nothing else, because the 1.5 cm depth is honest about what it will take. It has travelled through several airports and one very long ferry crossing without a single mark on the enamel.

Two notes for anyone weighing it up. Bright dye can fade gradually with strong sun exposure, so I keep it out of car windows and beach bags. And this shade is bold enough that people will notice it every time you pull it out, which is either the reason you want it or the reason you do not.

Where it earns the colour: group travel, ski transfers and any journey where documents get passed around. Orange is also, in my experience, the easiest tone to describe to a partner over the phone when something has gone missing. Practicality does not have to look dull.