Hermes Picotin Lock 18 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Gold Hardware 67 Vert Fonce

Vert Fonce is the forest floor after rain – a green so dark it borders on black, lit by gold hardware the way moss catches a lantern. It is the quietest way to carry colour, and for anyone wary of green bags, it is the safest place to start.

Eighteen centimetres in width and height, thirteen behind it, and the small Picotin wears this tone like a tuxedo: formal in the right light, soft in the wrong one, always a little secretive. Clemence’s pebbled grain keeps the dark surface from looking flat, and the leather is as pliant as any in the family.

Phone, keys, a wallet and the evening’s lipstick – my standard after-dark kit. The open mouth and unlined interior make it a fast bag, which matters more at night than in daylight, and the handles sit happily over a wrist while I hold a glass.

One honest observation: greens this dark can drink the light indoors and look nearly black, so if you specifically want a green bag, choose a brighter one; if you want a black bag that whispers green to whoever looks closely, you have found it.

It also happens to be the most photograph-friendly bag I own: against pale clothes the green reads deep and calm, and against black it vanishes into elegance. Whatever you wear it with, people will ask the colour’s name – Vert Fonce, incidentally, is French for dark green, which is precisely as much as it gives away.