Hermes Kelly Pochette Handmade In Swift Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware i8 Jaune Milton

There is a particular trick to saturated yellow, and it happens at the tannery: the dye has to go in evenly or the surface turns blotchy. Jaune Milton is proof that Swift does it well, a full, sunny yellow with no green cast and no pale patches where the flap bends over the frame. That evenness is what you pay for in Swift; cheaper yellows go blotchy within a season.

As a Kelly Pochette it measures 22 cm across, 12 up and 7 front to back, hand-carry only, with silver hardware. I keep cards, phone and keys in it and nothing more, because a piece this bright should stay clean in silhouette as well as in colour.

Two things worth knowing. Yellow this deep is unforgiving of edge wear, and the corners of the flap lighten first, with no polish restoring colour that has rubbed off. It is also a mark magnet for pen ink and denim, both of which I keep far away from this bag after wrestling with them on lighter leathers. In return you get a hide that stays soft, folds cleanly and has not faded at all in the eighteen months I have owned it.

Styled simply, white shirt and grey trousers, it is the most modern-looking version of this shape I have handled. It is the yellow I reach for when the forecast is grey, and the one friends ask to borrow, which tells you more than a colour chart can.