Fiddly brollies, be gone! There’s a better way to stay stylishly dry | Hats

Every morning, after I’ve made tea and fed the canine, I choose up my cellphone searching for wardrobe inspiration. Ignoring Instagram and Vogue Runway, I open Darkish Sky, the climate app, which tells you precisely if, when and the way arduous it can rain, in your avenue. Then, and solely then, do I take into consideration what to put on.

So far as vogue goes, whether or not or not it’s sunny doesn’t matter. Even the temperature isn’t a dealbreaker – by this time of 12 months you might be sporting heat socks and also you seize your coat everytime you go away the home. If it’s colder than you thought whenever you step exterior, that will be whenever you run again in and get your gloves.

However rain? Rain can wreck every little thing. You may be sporting the chicest, cosiest, warmest outfit on the earth, but when it’s not waterproof and also you get caught in a downpour, your look is finished for.

I do know what you might be considering, however no, an umbrella shouldn’t be all the time the reply. Not solely is it probably the most delinquent object in existence – one individual’s protecting cover, everybody else on the bus cease’s danger of significant eye damage – it’s also a sensible no-no, since that alluringly light-weight telescopic umbrella will undoubtedly buckle and switch inside out on the first gust of wind. The mini umbrella is the winter equal of the disposable barbecue.

There’s a completely different breed of umbrella, after all, one sturdy sufficient to final for years. However these are bigger, and now that wallets have shrunk to cardholders, our purses have largely been downsized accordingly. Perhaps you’ll be able to carry an umbrella that doesn’t slot in your bag or coat pocket and get again residence on the finish of the day with out having left it on the prepare or on the grocery store self-checkout. If that’s the case, hats off to you, however I do know my limits.

Rainwear – very similar to that different urgent matter of vogue practicality, pockets – tends to be discriminatory in opposition to girls. Rain is extra of a problem the extra hair you’ve gotten, for a begin. Additionally, males’s coats usually tend to have helpful hoods, whereas girls’s coats seldom do – and in the event that they do, they’re both infantilisingly huge (Paddington Bear is categorically not a cute search for a grown girl) or imply little issues that hardly attain your brow, leaving you with a moist hairline and mascara drips in your cheeks.

A beanie seems to be nice on some folks, and suits in a coat pocket. However the best way that individuals cross the road to keep away from me after I put on one means that it’s not an incredible vibe on me. Plus they get soggy.

I’ve had modestly profitable experiments with these standalone hoods that you simply tuck into the collar of your coat. The concept is that it’s like having a hoodie layered beneath smarter outerwear – a way more modern, streetstyle-influencer vibe than an umbrella or an anorak – with out the majority of really sporting the hoodie. (Cos does a Mock Hood for £59 in navy, pink or black padded polyester.) These are helpful, however there’s something a bit faux about them, like an old style dickie collar, that stops them from feeling solely stylish.

So I’ve excessive hopes for L’hood, the brainchild of hair stylist Elliot Taylor, who has give you a up to date model of the plastic bonnet your gran might need worn to guard her perm on the best way residence from the salon.

The Ritza type (£49.99) has an elongated profile (arduous to explain, however think about if Cristóbal Balenciaga had made bucket hats) and rolls up right into a band that you may put on round your wrist like a scrunchie.

Think about if, like a pair of sun shades on a sunny day, there was a sensible answer to a wet day that made your look extra fashionable, not much less. I can dream, proper? Don’t rain on my parade.

Mannequin: Shazeeda at Physique London. Hair and make-up: Sophie Higginson utilizing Ouai and Dior Eternally Basis. Jumper: jigsaw. Rain hood: l-’hood