text: Going into Helen Bateman reminded me of the kind of bright European shops that you see when you go on holiday which all seem to be orientated towards life being a permanent summer break Or maybe they just want to encourage people from colder countries to stop being so grumpy and dreary looking because perhaps your body reacts in some way to wearing bright fuchsia pink that will make you immune to temperatures below freezing and allow you to stride down Princes Street blissfully unaware of the frostbite going on around younnI guess in a very roundabout way what I am trying to say is that the offerings at Helen Bateman are very bright and cheery looking with mostly handbags shoes from the independent Helen Bateman range and jewellery on display plus a few kaftan items presumably for people who have any prospect of lying on a beach It is summer so the range is probably strikingly bright for this purpose and I would definitely allow some happy draping of several of the bags on show as they were all nice and substantial in size which I approve of for holding all my daily handbag junknnSome of the shoes are a bit too eccentric and full on in colour for my liking in styles that probably are not so much targeted at young people that are super into fashion but a lot of the boutiques in this area target a slightly older age range so I kind of expected that Everything here is clearly high quality and well designed though so it is worth taking a look especially if you are in the mood to gloat about buying something for your impending tropical holiday