Hermes Kelly 2424 24/24 Bag 21CM Handmade In Evercolor and Swift Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware 37 Gold 0G Rouge Sellier 09 Mauve Pale

Three colours in one small bag should be chaos. Instead, Gold, Rouge Sellier and Mauve Pale read like a sunset arranged by someone with a very steady hand: warm gold, deep red, a whisper of mauve keeping it all polite.

At a hair over twenty-one centimetres, built in Evercolor and Swift, the three tones share the surfaces without any one of them taking over. The silver hardware is the sensible frame around the picture. Worn crossbody, the tones stack in a way I still catch in shop windows.

It carries a phone, cards, keys and a lipstick, one that will now, finally, match your bag. I wear it with a charcoal coat and let the tri-colour do the work of a scarf, which is a trick I recommend to anyone who dresses in flats of black. The turnlock sits in the mix as well, so even the closure joins the palette.

A three-tone is a strong opinion. If you dress in one palette you will adore it; if you are a strict minimalist, it may feel loud by the end of a week. I knew which camp I was in before I bought it. Mine has been to a wedding, a gallery and a long lunch, and it held its own at all three.

Worn crossbody, it is the smallest piece of luggage I own that has ever started a conversation in a lift. It also taught me that three colours can be calmer than one, provided someone chooses them well.