Hermes Lindy Mini 19 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Silver Hardware i8 Jaune Milton

Jaune Milton is sunshine without apology — a clear, mid-tone yellow with just enough depth to stop short of highlighter. It is the most photographed bag I own, usually by strangers asking what the colour is called. It also survived a garden party that involved three glasses of lemonade and one enthusiastic dog.

The mini frame does what it always does: nineteen centimetres of width, twelve and a half of height, nine of depth, and a phone, a slim wallet, keys and a lipstick inside without negotiations. The silver pulls have gone from mirror-bright to hand-worn within a season, which is my favourite kind of patina on a cheerful bag.

Clemence’s grain gives the yellow a matte, almost chalky finish, so the colour reads closer to dyed canvas than to plastic. Silver hardware keeps the whole bag casual — gold would have made it precious, and precious is not what this colour wants to be.

I wear it with denim, navy and white almost exclusively, where it behaves like a small piece of summer that fits in one hand. In winter it does something unexpected and lifts a grey coat like nothing else I own. At lunch it looks like a slice of lemon tart; under warm evening lamps it deepens toward honey.

Honest: bright yellow and hand cream are enemies. The handles show grime sooner than any other bag I own, so I wipe them at the end of each week. That is the entire tax, and I pay it gladly. With white jeans and a linen shirt, it is the closest thing to a holiday I can carry in one hand.