north shore news § RASHION NEWS photo Terry Peters AS our modet Sara Little illustrates, there is no West Coast accessory more fashionable than the umbrella. For buying information, see end of story next page. Rus stop, wet day, she’s there, I say, ‘Please share my umbrella’? — The Hollies By John Moore : Contributing Writer HAD The Hollies been a West Coast. band, their vintage hit would have slightly different lyrics. . She would be the one with the foresight to carry an umbrella; and it would probably be one '- of those neat fold-up Knirps units that popped up like mushrooms in the same decade the song hit the charts. The compact candy-cane-size collapsibles were the first major technical innovation in umbrella manufacture in just over a century and a mere refining tweak on a basic design concept that hasn’t changed in about four thousand years — umbrellas appearing in ancient Egyptian and Assyrian reliefs are instantly recognizable; a sim- ple circular canopy supported by spokes radiating from a central shaft. Technically, those venerable umbrellas are “parasols,” providing protection from the brain- poaching sun, not rain. Peripatetic ancient Greeks brought the parasol to Europe and the Romans, who loved everything about Greece except its politics, were the first Europeans to use the umbrella to keep their togas dry in the line- up for Colosseum tickets. The Chinese, of course, claim to have invent- ed the umbrella when Adam’s bike had training- wheels. Since they developed printing, sik, gun- powder and pasta while we were still poking cach other in the eye with blunt sticks, it’s reasonable to assume they'd figure out that a coating of wax ona paper parasol would make a serviceable tem- porary shelter irom the storm. Like most niceties of civilized lite, the umbrel- la folded up during the Dark and Middle Ages, only to reopen in Italy during the Renaissance. So powerful was the Mediterranean influence that the English couldn’t be bothered to coin Umbrella protects fashion’s fickle trends their own word. Umbrella comes straight from Tralian (a little shade), and the Latin root “umbra” (shade/shadow), as if Londoners had cause to fear sunstroke. The French, more sensi- tive to semantic or meteorological distinctions, took the trouble to distinguish a parasol trom 3 parapluie. Then, as in the ancient world, the umbrella was a symbol of high office, restricted to nobles and clergy who could afford to employ flunkies to stand in the rain holding the heavy clumsy things over exalted noggins of Cardinals and Doges. But a device so practical and simple couldn’t be kept from the general public indefi- nitely, and by the 16th and 17th centuries, the umbrella came into wide use in northern Europe for reasons obvious to anyone who has ever been there on a “summer” holiday. Mentioned by Swift, (City Shower, 1710), the umbrella in England was first an accessory of female fashion — nota guy thing —- until stubbornly popular. ized by Persian traveller Jonas Hanway (1712- 86), who knew better than to care what he looked like as long as he was out of the weather. Teased bv street urchins and persecuted by coachmen who saw the umbrella as a threat to their livelihood and deliberately drove through gutters to splash him (their descendants vow work for Metra Transit}, Hanway toted a brolly through London tor three decades and lived to see his foresight vindicated. By the time he died, the umbrella no longer carried the stigma of effeminacy or “pedestrianism,” (being too poor to afford a carriage). fr had become a standard accoutrement of the English gentleman and was often referred to as a “Hanway.” The first’ exclusive umbrella. shop in’ the world, James Smith and Sons, 53 New Oxford St, opened in 1830 and still purveys portable shelter to discriminating strollers. In 1852, the brolly joined the Industrial Revolution when Samuel Fox invented a steel-rib design using lighter fabrics that quickly supplanted the heavy constructions of wood, whalebone and alpaca or oiled canvas that previously prevented a soaking. Early heavy umbrellas helped establish the familiar crook handle. Craftsmen trained to bend and turn hard woods like ebony and malacca, favored for sticks and umbrella handles, com- manded high wages. Doctors, who then made house calls at ali hours in any weather, were among the first professional men to popularize the umbrella for practical rather than fashionable reasons, just as they adopted the caped Inverness overcoat. Sensible chaps. Nor like the high school boys of my genera- tion, who could never have picked up a girl using the “Please share my umbrella” line copped from ver the Hollies tune. Mom’s reminder, “Don’t for- get your umbrella!” was about as welcome as a suggestion that you wear a dress to school. The moment it stopped raining proverbial canines and felines we “lose” our umbrellas in the first available bus or coffee shop. Our mothers were spared financial ruin by the fact that these umbrellas, bought on sale ar Eaton’s or The Bay, cost under $10 and, like early model Fords, came in any color you want- ed as long, as it was black. You can still buy simi- lar unbrellas at Eaton’s and The Bay. They now come in a variety of colors, bur the handles are still made of what appears to be pressed sawdust with a “genuine woodgrain finish” and, strange- ly, they still run about $10 on sale. Commodious enough to keep your head and shoulders (and a See Brolly-toters page 18 Strollers seek portable shelter CLOAKROOMS of nightclubs and restau- rants are cluttered with unclaimed umbrellas. Brollies of quality will nat- uray have been co-opted by discriminating underpaid statf, bur nest time vou have fo step out into an unexpect edly dark and stormy night, it’s worth demonstrating to the door person, hast /ess, or coat-checker that you may be forced to shelter under a tiny $5 bill. Most of them will be happy to trade you for a bumbershoot that cost them zip. It may be unfashionable, only partly functional, but it will get vou and a friend to the car, cab or bus stop with a brilliant display of personal resourcetulness. If youre fussier about what vou twirl on the end of your arm, Vancouver, the rain capital of western) Canada, has supported its own umbrella boutique for 60 years, Glen and Naney Flader carry ona third generation of craft tradition, — making umbrellas ar The Umbrella Shop, 53-4 W. Pender (669- 9444). Umbrellas can still be seri- ous cultural as weil as fashion statements; you can buy brol- lies with reproductions of the Sistine Chape! frescoes on their undersides or feature prints of French Impressionists; Renoir and, of course, Seurat, in| whose Dimanche @ lea Grande-Jatte parasols are an appropriately ironic recurrent visual motif. If vow’re investing serious money in 2 brolly you don’r intend to lose, don’t be suck- ered by designer names: open it and check the canopy ribs. They should be made of solid steel that is much more resis- tant to wind and rough han- dling, not hollow “fluted” tubes. — Jolm Moore