Hermes Picotin Lock 18 CM Bag Handmade In Taurillon Clemence Leather Silver Hardware 2T Blue Paradis

Blue Paradis is the colour of shallow water over white sand – a clear, green-tinged blue that feels like a holiday in a colour. It is brighter than Glacier and lighter than Saphir, and on the pebbled Clemence surface it looks almost wet. On a grey day it does more than any lamp could.

Eighteen centimetres wide and high, thirteen through the depth, and the silver-tone hardware is nearly invisible against this blue in daylight, which lets the colour carry the whole composition unaided.

On holiday it holds a phone, a cardholder, a key ring and lip balm, and rides comfortably on the wrist through markets and along a beach path. At home in the city I use it as my one defiant piece against grey weather – it does more for January than any coat.

The catch with bright aquatic blues is styling: they want white, sand, straw and denim, and they sulk next to forest greens or burgundy. Keep the palette warm and simple and this bag rewards you; try to make it autumnal and it will look like it misses the sea.

To be clear about its job in a wardrobe: this is not the safe beige – it is the piece that turns a white shirt and blue jeans into a plan. Give it light clothes and warm weather, and it will return the favour every single time you leave the house, punching far above its size in photographs too.