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Thursday, January 31, 2008: I'm excited to announce a new collaboration with (the) Manolo (for the) Men 'blog. I'll keep writing longer pieces for this site, with shorter, snippier bits there. ManoloMen's Izzy will continue his magnificent-ness there, and I will add some sparkle of my own. Thanks to The Manolo!

Hungry, horny, or rainy: when any of these adjectives are upon you, your mind can't focus on much else. Food and restaurants that were never before appealing are suddenly desirable. People who were never quite so attractive are suddenly sexy. And a rainy day? Makes me wish I had purchased those waterproof boots, the long canvas raincoat, even the funny-looking collapsible hat. Preparation makes certain situations a pleasure; lack of it makes you wonder what you were thinking. Yet on a sunny day, who can blame you for not thinking about umbrellas? (Of course, I can.)

Unlike those articles that appear from time to time in a high-end magazine like Cigar Aficionado or Robb Report, I will not give you a history of the umbrella. Frankly, I don't care which noble British firm (or who knows? French firm?) first made them. Or what Winston Churchill nicknamed his. Or where Fred Astaire had his delivered by the dozen.

Those not really concerned with sturdy, quality things, made the Way They Have Been Made, can sign off now--from here on it's all crazy talk to you. It's the kind of talk that makes guys nonchalantly showy when referring to the flat six in their car, or spending more for a television with progressive scanning. But when referring to men's clothing or accessories, this talk surely announces the speaker as a fop or a fag. Well my shaft is hickory! That's right, solid hickory. And I chose it over cherry, walnut, and malacca. I can't tell anyone about it in any serious way, ("oh, this old thing?") but I love it, I do.

The few of you not turned off by this talk yet, gather close, and I will say what I set out to say: treat yourself to a good umbrella. Hang a little tag or print a little label for the inside so when you leave it in a coat room the honest management can return it. (Consider it insurance.) Then enjoy this umbrella. You will pray for rainy days so you can use it. With a broken collapsible umbrella, the canopy loose of the twisted frame, you are a scurrier, panicked by the rain! With a functional, sturdy umbrella you can walk down the street a bit more slowly, with a longer gait, even a smile. It's all in the spirit of theMaterialist: a detail sought not for its flashiness but for the small pleasure you might find in it. Enjoy the rainy days.

The cost of a sturdy umbrella made in England or Italy is considerable. And perhaps ridiculous. (But it hasn't stopped me: I have three.) They start at about $150 for the Brigg doorman umbrellas with metal shafts, then to $200 or so for the Maglia Francesca, who make many of the private label umbrellas for Paul Stuart, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and a few others, and then easily $400 for the best and solid wooden ones by Brigg and a few other English makers. The costs come from the price of labor in a developed Western country, the materials, the beautiful fabrics available, and the less mechanized production. Your promotional-gift golf umbrella may be sturdy, I'll give you that. But beautiful? Worth keeping for a long time? Hmmm. The Brigg will still be mine in 15 years, and it will have that patina of ownership: dings in the wooden handle, worn down spots, and maybe a patch or two. I hardly even want the new umbrella, I want to have had it for decades. (See above, "oh, this old thing?")

And the best part of having one? Crazies like me will do a double take on the street: we will spot the distinctive shape of your canopy from a city block away, then carefully watch as you approach. We will interrupt you and your Blackberry and ask you for your photograph for a column we are writing, yes, we will!

6 response(s) | e-mail it | permanent link

To a lot of people, spending in excess of $250 on an umbrella may sound a wee bit whacky, but, like hand made shoes, you have to take into consideration the cost per wear ratio. A $5 telescopic bought from a street vendor in a sudden thunderstorm is a valuable, albeit, fleeting investment. You need it, you buy it. But with the first gust of wind, boing, it turns into a tangled mess of ribbing and nylon, with you hanging on desparately trying to salvage some dignity as you get drenched by taxis on flooded Park Avenue. A quality umberella, like bench made shoes, is built to last. The number of times you use it far outweighs the initial cost. Like a good pair of shoes, the life expectancy of a good brolly runs into decades. The longer you have it, the cheaper it gets, maybe a few cents per use. Plus, it's nice to have old friends around. BUT, never lend it to anyone. You cherish it, but they look at it as a disposable item to be used and left, unloved, in the back of a cab.

By  Geoffrey Saunders PR, at 9/20/07 1:39 PM  

I have a Brigg and feel like sanity demands I replace it, or supplement it with, the three piece travel umbrella. That way, when at a restaurant, I can simply unscrew the handle and bring it with me to my table.

It is a lot of money to pay up front, but it does provide a small dose of happiness on foul weather days.

By  Anonymous, at 9/21/07 3:29 PM  

I haven't held on to an umbrella for more than three months. At around $5 a piece I can get 50 umbrellas. That's about 13 years of umbrellas.
The case for a good umbrella lies in its elegance and style, not a calculation of pennies per use.

By  Anonymous, at 9/22/07 11:49 PM  

i've had a cheerful little christian dior red and beige umbrella for over 25 years now.it's under 11 inches (that's o.k.--i'm only a girl after all) so it doesn't take up a lot of real estate--no excuse to leave it at home when skies are iffy. i never have to leave it at a coat check either--i carry a zipseal bag to waterproof it and slip it into my tote.
only once did i risk leaving it behind--sitting on some vegetables at the old balducci's. when i realized it i ran so fast my sweat pants started to fall off! luckily it was still where i left it. (the umbrella)

By  rpse, at 9/24/07 7:51 AM  

I don't need to be convinced that spending the cash for a top quality umbrella will pay off decade after decade. But I do need to be convinced to buy an umbrella. As a resident of Los Angeles this great article makes me jealous that you need any kind of rain protection. I wonder which LA statistic is further from the numbers in NYC: the amount of days it rains per year, or the amount of time an average resident spends walking from place to place (rather than from door to car).

By  Anonymous, at 9/27/07 6:00 PM  

"...a scurrier..." ?

to think of it... the horror! :-)

By  jm3, at 9/29/07 5:24 PM  

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