Melanie Paris Golden Elegance Wallet

What this long Mélanie Paris wallet holds

Capacity is the thing to settle first with a wallet shaped like this one. Notes sit flat rather than folded, pockets on either side take receipts and travel tickets, and the middle is given over to a zipped coin section. If you are still weighing up sizes, it is worth looking at models that carry more, and models that carry less, before you decide.

Eight card slots on one inner panel

Cards go into a column of eight card slots on one of the inner panels, stacked so that the edge of each card stays in view when the wallet is open. The panel just above them is backed with the printed lining, which marks it out from the plain gold everywhere else. Anyone who would rather keep coins out of a wallet altogether can give them a dedicated home for loose change.

Crinkled gold, with two straps to break it up

Gold on an accessory can go flat very quickly. Here the surface has been crinkled, so the light lands unevenly and the colour shifts as you turn it. The two straps and their buckles sit across the flap and follow its rounded edge, which stops the front from reading as one blank panel. Turn the wallet over and the back is completely smooth.

The printed lining you only see once it is open

Undo the zip and a geometric print appears in brown, grey and cream. It is hidden the rest of the time, which is rather the point. Against the metallic outside it gives the wallet a second character that only the owner sees.

From the desk to dinner without changing wallets

Gold behaves differently depending on the hour. In daylight, next to a work bag in black or navy, it reads as a small bright detail rather than a statement. After six it holds its own with a darker outfit and does the job a clutch would, since 19 x 11 x 2.5 cm sits easily in one hand. That is the practical argument for this one: you are unlikely to need to move your cards into something else before going out.