Hermes Birkin Faubourg 20 Bag Handmade In Madame and Alligator Leather Silver Hardware 78 Bleu Marine S4 Deep Blue 76 Blue Indigo

I counted the blues before I stopped noticing them: Bleu Marine on the body, Deep Blue crossing the middle, Blue Indigo in the shadow lines of the awning. The Faubourg 20 wears layered colour better than any other small bag I have handled, because the facade format gives each tone a structural job rather than letting them blur into one another.

Up close, the work is easy to appreciate. Madame calf is pressed smooth and firm, so the 20 by 16 by 11 cm body keeps its shape on a table, and the glazed alligator panel above the flap tiles in clean diagonals. The silver hardware stays discreet against the dark blues and lets the leather do the talking, which is what you want when the palette is already busy.

I take this one out at night: phone, cardholder, keys and a lipstick, exactly the list that fits. Held low by the wrist at a bar, or set on the table between two glasses, it draws comment without ever looking like it is trying to. Against navy tailoring it almost disappears into the outfit; against cream or grey it becomes the loudest quiet thing in the room.

One thing I tell anyone considering a Faubourg: this is a mini bag by design, not by compromise, so judge it by what it does well. It will not take a wallet, a water bottle or a pair of sunglasses in a case. Keep a tote in the car for the rest of the evening, and the limits never bother you.