Hermes Neo Garden Party 23 Bag Handmade In Negonda Calfskin Leather Silver Hardware 63 Vert Amanda

A small green bag is a strange proposition until you own one. Vert Amanda is a deep, slightly forested green, and in the Neo Garden Party 23 it behaves like a neutral that happens to have a point of view.

I bought mine skeptically and now use it more than the black. At twenty-three centimeters across and sixteen tall, it takes phone, keys, cards, a lip balm and sunglasses, and the ten centimeter depth means a folded tote or a slim notebook can lie on top without stretching anything. The handles are hand-sized; there is no strap, which I consider a feature on a bag this small, since nothing dangles while you eat.

The Negonda calfskin has a warm, matte grain, and greens this deep benefit from it: the surface absorbs light and the shade stays leafy instead of going flat. Silver hardware sits at the tabs, cool and unobtrusive. The leather’s tone shifts a little in daylight, from deep spruce to something closer to moss.

The honest note is styling. Green is sociable with denim, camel, gray and cream, and antagonistic with reds and oranges; eyed against a busy print, it loses its calm. Also note that, like all Negonda pieces, it prefers to be filled rather than squashed, because the leather would rather drape than crease.

It is the color I recommend to people who already own black, brown and beige and want one bag that starts conversations.