Umbrellas, umbrellas, umbrellas

We're having a cloudburst of a storm here in NYC, and even though I was caught and got soaking wet, lots of people had the foresight to have umbrellas. This is New York, and they're umbrellas, so of course the vast overwhelming majority of them were black, but I saw a few that deviated from the norm. There were a few of the obligatory navy and marroon umbrellas, and I saw one of those black-with-multi-colored-polka-dots ones from Target, too. More interestingly, I saw a Burberry Novacheck one (could have been a knock-off--I didn't look too closely), and an old lady with a leopard print one. Overall, I was not impressed with the umbrellas I encountered tonight (of course, I was running for my apartment, so I wasn't paying too much attention).

Of course, now you may be asking, "But Principessa, how does one locate and purchase a unique, stylish, fashionable umbrella? Are they not functional tools along with statement-making accessories? How may one marry function and style?" and that would, indeed, be a very good question. Because umbrellas are functional, they're very, very, mass-produced, making it hard to locate a unique one. Now, being a native midwesterner, and having turned to eBay for all my style needs since I was 15, I firmly believe that the solution lies there. I'm sure there are thousands of umbrellas on eBay, but if you want to find the interesting ones, go vintage. Not only is it highly (why, yes, I did just use bold and italic text at once--I mean HIGHLY!) unlikely that anyone else will have something like it, they'll also be really quirky and cute, and most definitely statement-making. Here's a quick sampling:







Links: Cute umbrella #1, Cute umbrella #2, Cute umbrella #3, Cute umbrella #4, Cute umbrella #5, Cute umbrella #6

Enjoy!