Buy Umbrella
So Autumn has landed with something of an epic bang and it’s time to buy umbrellas. Anyone looking to buy umbrella for protection over the coming months might be forgiven for thinking that there’s not much in the way of difference between, say, a bog standard £15 umbrella from marks and sparks and a £30 umbrella from any other high street store. Up to a point, they’re right: but when you start looking at the range of options available in the high end and sporting markets, things start to get a little less clear. There are dress umbrellas available for the man (and woman) about town that can cost upwards of £150 – and of course the ubiquitous golfing umbrella, which has all sorts of modern fabrics and attributes to choose from. Windproof branded umbrella, anyone?
For the chap or lady chap around town, looking to buy umbrella can be a tortuous experience. Where to begin? The handle, for the style conscious, is as important as the look of the canopy: and, of course, any stylish umbrella has to look good furled as well as open. Umbrellas in these top end ranges are often hand tooled, made from polished wood with high quality fastenings and a proper nylon covering up top. The kind of thing one would have expected to see Lord Asquith wandering around with on the bustling pavements of Piccadilly. For a really decent brolly at this end of the market, look to bespoke outfitters and expect to end up the better part of £200 lighter.
The ladies are in a similar predicament, up at the top end of the market. High fashion brands are out: monogrammed family businesses are in. With slim line stems (available in hand tooled leather, no less, or polished bamboo), the top picks for the lady looking to buy umbrellas are not far behind the gents’ standards in terms of price. Looks wise, they’re a world apart – either straight up 50s and 60s high society style, with single colour canopies accentuating the plant like slenderness of their handles: or some rather astonishing interior designs, where the canopy opens to reveal huge fuchsia flower heads or a roaring pink underside. Quality.
Sporting umbrellas are a different matter again: here, the erstwhile purchaser is as much bound by the vicissitudes of his or her sport as by the actual appearance of the brolly. Even here, though, there’s style and then there’s style – buy umbrella for sport and you’ll be lured into a world of wind resistant fastenings, high quality nylon finishes and of course the obligatory brand messages. Whatever you’re after, you’ll find it: the only question that remains is whether you want bespoke tailoring from the world’s most exclusive sporting outfitters; or a Tiger Woods lookalike for £20 from the nearest online version of a department store.
