There are few things more luxurious than carrying a new designer handbag. Carrying a new designer handbag designed to your own specification is definitely one of them.

Enter Cartier, which has just launched a service – named for muse Jean Toussaint – to allow its customer to do just that.

Those confident in their fledgling design talent can let their imagination run wild, with no limitation on colour, stone or finish, but for those who prefer more guidance, a semi-made to measure service offers up a range of choices (including, sweetly, engraving your initials on the inner mirror).

Accessories Editor Donna Wallace visited the Cartier atelier in Paris to give it a go – read her verdict in the October issue of ELLE, on sale now.

Prices start at £1,470; visit cartier.co.uk for more details.