It's no secret that I love umbrellas. More specifically, I'm a little unhealthily addicted to "broken" ones. After spending all of yesterday engrossed in old movies, and thus not being in the rain, I ventured out this morning to a changed city.

What actually surprised me—more so than the ankle deep puddles NY1 warned us against—were the amount of people carrying utterly useless umbrellas. I saw more people struggling than actually getting somewhere under cover. Unfortunately I was one of the aforementioned strugglers, using a stained auction house umbrella with an unusual discoloration. Surprisingly, I have never actually owned an umbrella—I typically live off loaners from the Mercer Hotel—but I think now might be the time to make the jump. Which raises the question:

What is the perfect umbrella?

From today's evidence, only the girl in the Shibuya-style clear dome umbrella was in any state of harmony, but I don't know where you buy them (or if I would pull one off) anyway. I saw golf umbrellas, square umbrellas, dome umbrellas, crappy street umbrellas, flimsy freebie umbrellas, and wooden-frame traditional ones. So which one just works? I could call Brella Bar, or I could pop around to the Hotel, but I actually want function over form this time.

Perhaps it's because I grew up in England and Scotland that rain doesn't really bother me, but I do like to stay dry, so today seems like a very good day to finally get an answer. Or to stay indoors with the cat.