Hermes Kelly 25 Bag Handmade In Epsom Calfskin Leather Gold Hardware J7 Blue Lin

Blue Lin is the colour of a spring sky an hour before sunset: pale, powdery, a little grey at the edges, and on a Kelly 25 it does something useful by letting you carry blue without feeling like you have dressed in a flag. This is not a nautical blue or a corporate blue. It is the quiet one.

On Epsom, the powdery tone stays even; the embossed surface gives it a fine matte texture that stops pale blue from looking washed out. The leather is rigid enough that the silhouette stays exactly as drawn, crisp flap and clean corners, even after a full day of being set down and picked up.

I take this one to seaside lunches and city days in spring. Phone, card holder, keys, sunscreen stick, sunglasses without the case: everything goes in without a fight, and the gold hardware gives the pale blue a warm frame rather than a cold one. It is also the bag friends borrow most often, which says everything about how easy this colour is to wear.

The honest warning is denim. New dark jeans and pale Blue Lin are not friends; the dye transfers onto light leathers more readily than sample photos suggest. I test my jeans on an old swatch before pairing them, and I wipe the bag with a dry cloth after handling. Treated with that much sense, it has stayed fresh through two summers and still gets the most compliments of anything I own.