Hermes In the Loop 18 Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Gold Hardware 01 Blanc

Let us talk honestly about a white bag. Blanc in Taurillon Clemence is a soft, milky white, not a paper white, and with gold hardware it is the warmest version of the idea; the bag looks like cream stirred into coffee rather than like something that expects to stay perfect. Which is good, because it will not.

The shape: eighteen centimetres across the top edge, twenty with the loop, twelve at the base. Clemence is pebbled and spongy, and on a pale surface every touch of the leather shows a little movement of grain, which gives the white a lived texture instead of a lacquered one. The gold is soft enough that it reads honey rather than yellow.

What goes in: phone, keys, cardholder, sunglasses, and in summer a sun cream tube that I regret every single time it leaks air. The bag is a summer fixture for me, worn with linen and straw and everything pale, and the gold keeps it from looking nautical. On holiday it doubles as an evening bag once the beach bag comes off duty.

The honest terms of ownership: whites need attention. Mine goes back in its dust bag every night, away from denim, magazines and pens. There will still be a faint grey shadow at the base eventually. I have decided that a white bag with a memory of the ground it has covered is more interesting than one that has never lived.