Hermes Birkin 35 Bag Handmade In Togo Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware 61 Olive Green

Olive green is the sleeper colour. Nobody names it their favourite and then it becomes the bag you reach for four days out of seven, because it sits between green, brown and grey and borrows the manners of all three. With gold hardware it looks slightly military and slightly countryside at once, which is a harder trick than it sounds.

On a base just under fourteen inches across, it carries the standard 35 load: laptop, notebook, a pouch of cables, keys, wallet, water bottle along the bottom edge. Togo has enough body that the bag stands upright on a chair beside you instead of collapsing into itself, and the straps have softened into my shoulder shape after a few months.

The trade-off: in low winter light, olive can go muddy and read almost grey-brown, which surprises people who expected a clearer green. I have learned to check it in daylight before deciding what to wear it with. In summer sun the same bag is greener, lighter, almost bottle-toned at the edges. If you want a colour that looks identical in every light, choose differently; if you like one that changes with the season, this is it.

Wear is forgiving. A mid-tone hides edge scuffs better than black does, and the handles darken slowly and evenly rather than going shiny in patches.

It pairs with cream, camel, denim and, satisfyingly, every other brown you own.