Hermes Constance Slim Wallet Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware 18 Etoupe

The 120 cm strap is what turns this from a wallet into a bag, and it is the reason I stopped carrying a card case on weekend trips. Draped crossbody, the Constance Slim hangs at hip height and leaves both hands free; doubled over the shoulder it sits neatly under an arm at dinner.

Twelve point four centimetres wide, ten point two high and three deep – the numbers describe a wallet, and that is exactly how it behaves inside a bigger bag, sitting flat against the lining with the clasp facing in. Worn on its own, it takes cards, folded notes, a couple of coins, a key and a lipstick, and not much else.

Epsom in eighteen Etoupe is a grey-brown that reads more grey in daylight and more brown indoors, and the pressed grain means it stays matte no matter how often you handle it. Gold hardware gives the pale leather a warm frame; the contrast is subtle, but you feel it when the clasp clicks shut.

The trade-off is the obvious one for anything this slim: at three centimetres deep it will not swallow a phone, so you carry the phone in a pocket or your hand. That is the honest cost of the proportions – a chunkier wallet-with-strap would carry more and would also look nothing like this.

Mine has done a market, a long train and one wedding, and the strap shows no sign of slackening. Etoupe has the further virtue of being nearly impossible to mark, which is why it is the colour I recommend to friends who travel hard.