Melanie Paris Multi-Pocket Wallet in Almond Green

Three zipped sections in one compact wallet

Start with what the wallet actually holds. There are three zipped sections: two outer pockets that open away from each other, and a narrower one between them with its own pull. That middle section is the one doing the real work, because it keeps coins from grinding against cards, which is where a single-compartment wallet usually gives up. Dark metal sliders mark each opening. If that kind of sorting suits you, the wallets with separate coin pockets are grouped together on one page.

Grained almond green with a braided tab at the front

The colour sits somewhere between sage and khaki, soft rather than bright, and it covers the whole of the outside. The material is a grained synthetic with a little give under the thumb. At the front, a tab folds down and slips through a stitched keeper; a short braid laid across that tab is the only raised detail on an otherwise plain face. The edges are finished in a darker tone. Turn it over and the back is completely flat, with nothing but the top zip and its fabric tape pull.

The floral lining you only see once it is open

Pull the zip and the wallet stops being quiet. Every inner wall carries a floral print in rust orange, dark green and black, right down to the sides of each pocket. It is an odd, rather good contrast: sober on the outside, busy within.

How big is it, and what is it made of?

The footprint is 17 x 10 x 4 cm, and the depth is the figure worth noticing. Four centimetres is what allows three sections to sit side by side without the whole thing gaping open, and it is also the reason this one belongs in a bag rather than a back pocket.

Wearing almond green through the seasons

Soft greens are forgiving. This one goes with denim without looking deliberate, warms up against tan leather, and stops an all-black winter coat from reading as severe. Come spring it does just as well alongside cream linen. The rust in the lining is worth remembering too, since it ties the wallet to the browns and ochres most of us already own. Other pieces in the same vein sit on the label's own page.

Keeping the grain and the print in good shape

Two surfaces, two habits. The grained outside tolerates a barely damp cloth, worked along the grain and not across it. The printed lining does not want water at all, so if damp does get in, open all three sections and let the air finish the job. Over time, what spoils a wallet of this shape is overfilling rather than anything on the surface.