Hermes Oasis Sandal Women High Heel Sandal in Epsom Heritage Calfskin Terre Cuite

Terracotta is what beige wants to be when it grows up. This pair takes the warm end of the neutral scale, leaning orange-brown in daylight and almost brown indoors, which means it can carry an outfit that a plain sand tone would leave flat. It is the colour the Italian coast does well, as if borrowed from a terracotta pot.

You get the Oasis lines in Epsom Heritage calfskin: the H cut-out across the vamp, a heel of five centimetres, with the front sole sitting 4.5 centimetres lower, the run from 36 to 41, made in Italy. The embossed grain keeps the colour even across the vamp, which matters on a shade this saturated.

I wear terre cuite with olive, cream, denim and white, and it is the one warm neutral that looks right against both silver and gold jewellery. In a hot city it echoes the buildings around you, which is either charming or too much, depending on your taste. With a white linen shirt it looks sunlit; with black it looks like a decision. They have seen two summers and the edge is still even.

Worth knowing: terracotta’s pigments can darken slightly where the leather creases at the toe. It is not damage, but it is a change, and if you want a colour that stays exactly as bought, keep this one out of a suitcase and off a sunny balcony. A cream with no colour in it is the safest choice for this leather.