Hermes Lindy Mini 19 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Gold Hardware 7P Blue Presse

Blue Presse is what navy wants to be — ink-dark with a little life in it, the colour of a fountain-pen bottle held to the window. I first carried it to a press-day event and it has been my evening small bag ever since.

At nineteen by twelve and a half by nine centimetres it holds the essentials of an evening properly: phone, card case, keys, lipstick, a folded tissue. The zips curve around the top in one smooth line, and the bag sits neatly on a bar top without sprawling. The mini also stands up on a table, which keeps a dark blue bag from pooling into an anonymous shape.

Clemence’s pebble grain gives this near-solid colour a softness that keeps it from looking corporate; the surface glows rather than shines, and the folds along the sides deepen the blue to near-black exactly where the bag bends.

The gold hardware earns its place at night: warm clasps against dark blue catch even candle-level light, which is more than silver manages in the same room. It is a two-faced charm — daytime it is simply a deep blue bag; evening it glints. In summer it reads almost royal over a white shirt; in winter it apologises to no coat.

One honest note: deep blues show pale dust more obviously than mid tones, and this shade photographs darker than it is. Wipe it, and photograph it in daylight, and you will see what you are really buying. Dust it, photograph it outdoors, and trust showroom lighting a little less.