Melanie Paris Mustard Patchwork Handbag

Two pale panels on a mustard patchwork handbag

You see the pale pieces before you see anything else. A triangle of coarse beige canvas takes the lower left, and a column of cream herringbone braid runs the full height of the right-hand side. Set against the flat, matte mustard around them, both read a shade cooler than they would on their own, and the tan band across the top pulls the two ends together.

The braid is the only thing you feel

Move your thumb across it and the ridges catch. Nothing else on this bag does that: the mustard stays even under the thumb, the tan band is barely embossed, the canvas triangle has grain but no depth. The braid sits exactly where your hand lands when you lift the bag off a chair.

Where the diagonal zip cuts through

The front zip is not where you would expect a pocket to be. It runs on a slant, which turns it into one more line in the patchwork, separating the beige triangle from the mustard beneath it. What it opens is shallow, and that is the point: a card, a ticket, a folded note, reached without setting the bag down. If you want to see how this shape behaves next to others, the handbags built without a rigid frame sit in one section.

And another zip along the top

The whole opening closes on a single zip along the top, so the bag shuts rather than gapes when you set it down. A third zip lies flat across the plain back panel, for whatever you would rather keep apart from the rest.

Take the strap off, or leave it on

The two rolled handles are short enough to hold in the hand and long enough to slide up the forearm. The detachable shoulder strap clips onto the side rings when your hands need to be free, and comes away just as quickly when they do not. Eyelets, rings and clips are all in dark unpolished metal, which keeps your eye on the colour rather than the fittings.

Worth a look as well: the tote-shaped bags one shelf over, if what you carry has grown since you last chose a bag.