What would you rather have over your head? Permanently blue summer skies, a tiger, a red zebra, or a priceless work of art? Or some puppies? A highland cow?
Or, maybe, Jemima the jellyfish or Oscar the Octopus?
Christine Naismith describes herself as “a movie fan, fashion victim,m and rain enthusiast”. The pitter-patter of rain one day in Edinburgh brought her light bulb moment.
“I was inspired by Eliza Doolittle at Ascot and My Fair Lady as well as The Penguin in Batman -the TV series. And, of course, Mary Poppins. I can’t get enough of brollies. We sell 1250 of them and have one of the largest online collections for global delivery. Brollies are practical necessities and works of art.”
The founder of West Lothian-based Brollies Galore knows her Mayfair from her Hampstead and her Slim Shaftesbury from the Minister, her Bugzz from her Original Duckheads. She appreciates a generous canopy.
“My grandma gave me my first umbrella, a yellow gold duck. Sadly, it wasn’t a talking parrot but as good as. I fell in love with brollies. One day, I wondered where that umbrella had gone and whether it was still being made. And realized there was nowhere to sell the huge range of umbrellas available My mother sold Atari parts as a small cottage industry. Online shopping had taken off in the States but was in its infancy in the UK. My mum wanted to get into e-commerce. I suggested brollies!
“She looked at me as if I had a third eye. The rest of the family scowled and shook their heads. But we went for it, building up stock, securing payment gateways and despatching, opening www.brolliesgalore.com in 2003.”
From traditional to funky, plain to colorful, birdcage to padoga, foldaway to automatic, the quality brolly boutique sells umbrellas made by Fulton, Soake (from Harrogate), Von Lillenfield, Stormking with Emily Swift and Anatole of Paris as well as its range of Chrysline wedding umbrellas. It also boasts the largest section of parasols in the UK. Its most expensive is the £234 Eleanore by Pierre Vaux. Its most expensive gents’ brolly is the Italian Pasotti Bellezza Luxury Swarowski Crystals Winter Nights at £355. A Dragon’s Head handle costs £245. A Hickory Tiger one is slightly cheaper.
Fulton’s Umbrellas was founded in 1956 in London by Polish engineer and inventor Arnold Fulton, a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, whose sister and brother-in-law owned an umbrella factory in Stockholm. He invented the ladies’ birdcage umbrella. Fulton held a Royal Warrant to Her Majesty the Queen ELIZABETH 11 and previously supplied them to Her Majesty the Queen Mother who first saw Fulton’s now-iconic Birdcage umbrella and thought that its unique domed PVC cover would offer the best protection whilst still allowing her to remain as visible as possible. Fulton’s also has a range of UPF50+ brollies and Arts & Crafts patterns influenced by Morris & Co.
Artists like George Stubbs and Van Gogh have inspired further brolly designs for those who fancy having “Whistlejacket” over their head and being protected from the rain by masterpieces like “Tiny Wheatfield with Cypress Trees”, Irises” and “Almond Blossom.” Also available are “Klimt’s Cottage Garden”, Seurat’s “Bathers” and Renoir’s “Umbrellas”. Fulton’s National Gallery collaborations are much cheaper than the originals.
Fashion necessities like sans, bumbershoots, skiadeions, and gamps go back a long way. Long before the word umbrella evolved from the Latin “umbrel” (rounded flower) and “umbra” meaning shadow. As well as before it became an important part of papal regalia and considerably long before the French began calling their umbrellas “parapluies”.
Sun parasols of all kinds are seen in ancient Persian sculptures and bas-reliefs. But it wasn’t until the eighteenth century that rainwear became a business and umbrella wear an industry. And tanning became trendy.
The first lightweight folding brolly was introduced in 1710 by Parisian merchant, Jean Marius and a French scientist, Navarre, who was the first to combine an umbrella with a cane. Pressing a small button on the side of the cane opened the umbrella. Umbrellas were rented. By the end of the century, there were many umbrella-making companies in France including Boutique Betaille ( 1880-1939)and Maison Piganiol (1884) based in Aurillac in the Auvergne.
Other old and well-respected brolly makers include Weisbrod (1825), Faconnable( 1850), Berluti (1895), and Chatel Thomass (1920). Modern designers include Blunt in New Zealand ( famous for windproof brollies that can survive a 71 mph Force One hurricane), and Burberry which offers a Nuubuk Ostrich handle at $1850. The world’s two most expensive brollies are probably the German Brillant Luxus Schirme Crocodile which retails for around $1650 and Mario Talarico of Naples Malacca stemmed crocodile handle Paisley Canopy at $1,999.
Brollies Galore stocks popular Lucy Guinness designs like “Raining Lips”.
An increasing number of women won’t go anywhere without their “Beauty Spot”.
Says Naismith. ; “ A quality, superior fabric brolly should last you years. As long as you look after it, which means drying it out as soon as you get in! Get a longer one. It’s harder to lose!”
