Hermes Lindy Mini 19 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Silver Hardware U1 Vert Verone

Vert Verone is a green with the volume turned down — dove-grey with a green cast that shifts with the light. I chose it precisely because it refuses to be categorised. I first noticed the shade in a shop window at dusk, when the green had almost left the leather and only the shape remained.

The proportions are the classic mini Lindy: nineteen centimetres wide and twelve and a half high, with nine centimetres of depth that lets the bag stand on its own when full. A phone, card case, key pouch and lipstick fit without a fight, and nothing has to be dug out from under anything else.

Clemence looks almost dusty in this shade, deepening where the leather folds. I tried it beside the gold-hardware version once and the warm clasps made the green look tired, so silver it was — cool clasps, cool bag. The fittings all but disappear against this colour, and that anonymity is the shade’s whole charm.

Because the leather is soft, the bag collapses a little when empty. I flatten mine, strap tucked inside, on the shelf; it springs back within a morning of carrying. The lesson from a year of owning it is that soft leather is not fragile leather. It is also, quietly, the bag my friends borrow most often, which says more about the colour than any description can.

Honest note: Vert Verone photographs flatter than it looks in person. In real light there is a depth the camera keeps missing. Give it a sunrise before you judge it.