Navy blue Gallantry crossbody bag

A 22 cm crossbody bag that weighs 0.3 kg empty

Numbers first, because this is the part adjectives get wrong. The maker's measurement board puts the bag at 22x14cm across the front, 7 cm deep, and 0.3 kg before anything goes in. That depth is what keeps it from flattening against your side once a phone, a card holder and keys are inside. A paperback will go in. A tablet will not.

Cream straps, silver buckles, and a webbing strap you cannot shorten

Against plain navy weave, every metal part shows. Two cream straps with silver pin buckles sit low on the front flap, each one held by a keeper with the rounded tip left hanging below, and between them a small oval plate catches the light. The shoulder strap is wide navy webbing, with letters woven into it in the same navy, the kind of lettering you find on a camera strap, and it meets a metal ring at either side of the bag. Look along its length and there is no slider and no adjusting buckle: the drop is the drop. What you get in exchange is a band that keeps its place on a coat shoulder instead of sliding into the crook of the arm.

Two ways in, and one of them takes longer

The main compartment opens through a zip across the whole top, with the pull parked at the left-hand end. That is the opening that gets used on a platform, in a queue, in the thirty seconds before a train arrives. The front flap pocket answers to a different clock: two buckles, two hands, and a moment you have to actually set aside. Put the things you reach for every ten minutes behind the zip, and the things you reach for twice a day under the flap.

A flat back and a soft base

Turn it round and there is nothing there. The flat, pocketless back means no buckle or seam presses into you through a thin coat, and there is no back pocket for anyone to reach into. The base is soft rather than boarded and carries no metal feet, so it is better set down on a table or a chair than parked on the floor of a train.

Navy in a wardrobe that is mostly not navy

Navy behaves like a neutral without going flat the way black does in daylight. It sits well against indigo denim, against grey flannel, against anything camel, and the cream of the straps quietly agrees with tan boots. If 22 cm turns out to be less room than you wanted, the size table that lists shoulder bags in centimetres is the quickest way to compare.

If what you actually want is a spare strap or a purse to go with it, the clip-on straps and purses sit in their own section.