Here's a thread you'll find helpful:

https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/showthread.php?t=53064&highlight=umbrella

I recommend the GustBuster pictured in that thread.

 

Brigg Swaine & Adney, is about the finest.

 

Briggs: overpriced, IMO

I'd suggest an handmade Talarico (www.mariotalarico.com). Far cheaper than Briggs, if you pick an entry level (here Briggs are sold for 400+ Euros!) But with a significant discount even if you choice the top of the range, a wangee handle, pure silk cover, 'goose's neck' construction number.
For a more English look, I'd go for a steel frame Fox (www.foxumbrellas.com)

 

Brigg Swaine & Adney, is about the finest.

I have a Brigg in solid ash - lovely! The slightly rough and unpretentious look of the wood may appeal to the Trad eye? It certainly does to mine. You can get them online at English Hall.com

https://englishhall.com/shopping/56

 

Thanks for the responses. I will keep my eye open.

I can't bring myself to buy a Brigg Swaine & Adney just to loose it next time I stumble out of my dinner-party and leave it behind to be snatched up by some bus-boy.

I might give that "gust-buster" a try for a work-a-day umbrella that I could loose w/o any pain.

 

The brooks outlet had some of the nicer weighted $ 85 (Argyle & Sutherland variation) umbrellas for around $40.

 

How good is the gustbuster?

 

OK. I know I can't be the only one thinking this. I thought umbrellas were basically a no-no for guys, as they invoke the whimp factor. Guys just don't use umbrellas just like they don't ask for directions.

Or is this just a Southern thang?

 

From the Chronicle's Magazine website in an article entitled "I Am So Old I Can Remember When..." by Prof. Clyde Wilson

"a male American seen carrying an umbrella would have been ridiculed and probably beat up."

 

OK. I know I can't be the only one thinking this. I thought umbrellas were basically a no-no for guys, as they invoke the whimp factor. Guys just don't use umbrellas just like they don't ask for directions.

Or is this just a Southern thang?

I guess I'm a wimp then. I would rather be a wimp than to show up at my office soaking wet.

 

How good is the gustbuster?

It's not a piece of art like a Brigg, but it's sturdy, well-designed, and classic in appearance. As others have noted, GustBusters are cheap enough that losing one is relatively painless. Their distinguishing feature is a vented canopy which allows air to escape, preventing them from blowing inside-out.

 

I just picked up a GustBuster Classic for $29.95 at:



Looks better online than the monstrosity I saw at 5th Ave BB yesterday.

I'll let y'all know if I feel whimpy when I use it. Southerners....

 

They're also $30 at Neiman Marcus. Free shipping code SUMMER. Total with tax was $32.40.

The bad news, though, is that it's backordered until 8/7/06.

 

OK. I know I can't be the only one thinking this. I thought umbrellas were basically a no-no for guys, as they invoke the whimp factor. Guys just don't use umbrellas just like they don't ask for directions.

Or is this just a Southern thang?

Do you really mean that guys prefer to get soaked and/or lost in the South of US?
In Italy fine umbrellas have always been considerated a very Gentlemanly accessory (kinda bourgeois and urban 'heirs' of noblemen's and officers' swords, under the symbolic point of view - and please no Freudian double intendre here...
This recalls in mind a very 'special' umbrella I was told my grandfather had owned in his heydays (late XIX-earlyXX century): it seems like there was a 20 inches or so steel blade hidden inside the stick. It was not uncommon among young gentlemen, along with walking sticks with similar characteristics (brought back to celebrity by Alex in 'Clockwork Orange' movie, somehow)
Not wimpish at all, I daresay..;-)
Shame it got lost, with many other things, during the last war's bombings.

 

Yeah, I've lived in the South for basically my entire life and don't think I've ever run across this train of thinking. Besides, with no umbrella, what is one to offer a lady in the rain?

OK. I know I can't be the only one thinking this. I thought umbrellas were basically a no-no for guys, as they invoke the whimp factor. Guys just don't use umbrellas just like they don't ask for directions.

Or is this just a Southern thang?