Hermes Constance 24 CM Bag Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware 93 Orange

Orange is the colour people either build a wardrobe around or quietly avoid, and I am firmly in the first camp. This 93 Orange is a true orange – no red lean, no rust undertone – and Epsom is why it stays that way: the pressed grain holds pigment so evenly that there is no darkening at the folds, which is where bright leathers usually start to age.

The bag itself is the classic full-size frame, with gold hardware on the H. Gold and orange are old friends; the metal warms the colour further and the whole thing reads almost lacquered in sunlight. I like it most with denim and white, where it does the job of jewellery that you can put things in.

Capacity is genuinely useful: a wallet, phone, keys, lipstick, reading glasses in a slim case, plus a folded scarf in winter without stressing the flap. The body is twenty-four centimetres wide, fifteen tall, five deep, and it stands upright on its own, which matters on cafe tables. The strap is cut to a single length, so the bag stays where you put it – shoulder for me, crossbody for my taller friends.

Honesty check: this is not a stealth bag. You will be seen, and you will need to dress with it, in the sense of not minding that it is the loudest thing you are wearing. Epsom will shrug off scratches and rain, but bright orange does not forgive ink – a pen that leaks in this bag is a small tragedy. That said, I have carried mine for months without a mark.