Hermes In the Loop 18 Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Gold Hardware 7P Blue De Presse

Some colours are only properly seen in bad weather. Blue de Presse, the deep ink blue of a fountain pen at midnight, is one of them: on a rainy Tuesday it sits between navy and black, and it is the most quietly useful dark bag I have owned. On a boat or a ferry deck its ink tone sits happily next to navy and brass.

The In the Loop 18 gives it an easy shape, eighteen centimetres across, just under twenty tall with the loop, twelve deep. Clemence’s pebbled surface takes on a low sheen when wet and dries back to matte, and the gold hardware is the one bit of warmth in an otherwise cool picture. It is also the rare dark that does not glare in photographs; the blue stays soft under flash.

In daily use it takes a phone, keys, a transit card, a folded scarf in winter and, on the days I skip lunch properly, a paper bag of pastries on the way home. The bucket mouth is generous, which makes it a fast bag: nothing needs arranging, everything drops in. On weekends it just as happily carries a paperback and a bag of fruit.

The trade-off is camouflage. Against a dark indigo coat this bag effectively vanishes, and indoors it reads simply as black to anyone not looking closely. I like that, but if you are buying blue to see blue, save this shade for daylight and consider a lighter one.