Sweet Candy Gallery Vintage Rose Wallet

A zip-top wallet that stays in one hand

At 18 × 10 × 4 cm this sits in the compact half of the range rather than among the long companion styles. Notes go in folded once, cards sit flat, and it is the four centimetres of depth that you notice: a full wallet of this shape takes up real room in a small bag. The upside is that it stays in the palm of one hand, which is the whole point of a compact.

What the size changes in a handbag

In a tote it disappears into the front pocket. In a bum bag or a small cross-body it is the single bulkiest thing you will carry, so it tends to go in on its own with the phone. Opening it one-handed at a till works because the tab is on the outside and the thumb reaches the stud without turning the wallet over. If you are weighing up lengths before you commit, it is worth seeing the wallet range laid out format by format, compacts on one side and the longer flap companions on the other.

Two fastenings and nothing else

The mechanism is deliberately plain. A metal zip runs the long edge and opens the upper compartment, its pull sitting flat against the edge. The camel tab comes down from the top and clips onto a silver paw-pad stud, which keeps the whole thing shut while it travels flat at the bottom of a bag.

A gallery of framed cats across the front

The front reads like somebody's living room wall. Three framed cat portraits hang among empty oval frames, a clock with Roman numerals, a blue jug, a spray of iris and a ring of keys, the lot arranged above a console drawn in outline. The pink ground is deliberately foxed, flecked with pale marks in the way old paper goes, and the frames lean towards gold. A glittering pink band runs along the bottom and picks the frame motif up again.

Paw prints and a camel tab on the reverse

Turn it over and the mood changes. A stronger pink fills the face, scattered with large plum paw prints set in staggered rows. The camel tab crosses them vertically. Down in the right-hand corner a pale pink cat's head is set onto the glitter band, and the metallic Sweet & Candy signature sits in the middle. A stitched fabric label on the edge repeats the brand name on the other side.

Measurements and fastenings at a glance

Pink that sits well with tan and brown

The front pink is a muted, dusty shade rather than a bright one, so it answers the camel of the tab and anything in the tan family: a cognac bag, a sand trench, boots the colour of tobacco. The plum of the paw prints gives you a darker note to echo if you want one, an aubergine scarf or a deep nail colour, without the whole thing turning busy. For days when only coins need to come out, a small coin purse kept apart saves opening the wallet at all.