Hermes Constance 24 CM Bag Handmade In KK Ostrich Leather from South Africa Silver Hardware L4 Bubble Gum

Can a candy-pink bag survive real life? I asked myself that before ordering, and after six months of use the answer is yes – with caveats I will get to. L4 Bubble Gum is an unapologetically sweet pink, the colour of the inside of a marshmallow, and in ostrich it gains a texture that stops it from being precious.

Ostrich skin is covered in quill follicles – the raised bumps that give it a dotted pattern – and those dots make the surface surprisingly resilient. The skin itself is lighter than calfskin of the same size, which you notice within the first hour of carrying. This one is farmed in South Africa, where the great majority of the world’s ostrich leather comes from, and the quills here are small and even across the flap.

Practically: phone, cardholder, small coin purse, keys, lipstick and a slim pack of tissues fit with room to reach past them. The full-size frame handles the usual load without a struggle. The silver H stays quiet against the pink, and the strap, set at one length as on every Constance, falls as a shoulder bag on my frame.

Now the caveats. Pale ostrich rewards care: dirt settles into the valleys between the quills, so a gentle brush with a soft cloth every week keeps it bright. Rain is the bigger enemy – ostrich can spot – so I treat it as a dry-weather bag and carry it less in the wettest weeks. None of this stops me using it; it just means I keep it, rather than treat it as a beater.