Oct 23, 2007

Beautiful bumbershoots: Beat your rainy-day blues with a fun, stylish umbrellaBy Sarah JacksonHeraldNet.com

Here comes the rain again.

But you don’t have to feel so bad about it. Oh, no.

In fact, it’s time to have some fun with an often-overlooked accessory — not a handbag or a hat — the humble, lovable umbrella.

Umbrellas, you see, have come a long way, far enough, indeed, to become the ultimate Northwest winter fashion statement.

Forget the basic black retractable automatic-launch 9-inch travel umbrella that you stuff into a floppy soaking wet sack, and open your mind to the age of the arty umbrella.

Think wooden hook handles, leather and jewel accents, carefully trimmed edges and high-style, durable designs for both men and women.

Satoko Kobayashi, owner of Pare Umbrella in Seattle, has been importing chic, colorful umbrellas from Tokyo since 2004 and business has been steady.

Though not every Northwesterner is part of the umbrella set — certainly, Gore-Tex jackets with oversized hoods are more like it — umbrellas sell briskly here.

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