Hermes Constance Elan 24 Bag Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware 9R Lime

Lime is the colour that made me stop believing in sensible bags. On the Constance Elan 24 it is a sharp green-yellow, the colour of new leaves against a grey sky, and it does not compromise with a wardrobe so much as improve it. One lime bag will outwork three neutrals.

The Elan is a long, low flap bag: twenty-four centimetres of face, fourteen tall, eight deep, with the clasp centred and that whole face a single rectangle of colour. Epsom calfskin, embossed and firm, keeps the rectangle perfectly true, and the embossed grain gives the lime a slightly matte surface so it never looks like patent. You see the bag before you see the person carrying it, and the bag knows it.

A day with it: phone, keys, cardholder, compact and lipstick, and nothing needs forcing because the layout is flat and generous. It is a favourite with white shirts, grey trousers and black coats, where it reads as the one living thing in the outfit. Waiters remember me by it, which has its uses.

The honest caution: lime is a season, not a year-rounder. Under a heavy winter coat it can look like a mistake from another month, and it draws questions, all day, from strangers. For those who like the questions there is no better colour; for those who do not, there is a pale grey sibling with a calmer view of the world.