Parasols and Umbrellas

The Historic Textile and Costume Collection (HTCC) owns eighty-six parasols and umbrellas dating from 1775 to 1930. A parasol is defined as “a light, ornamental umbrella carried by women as a shield against the sun.”¹ An umbrella is an “accessory used as a protection against the rain or sun.”²  One of the oldest artifact in this group is an umbrella used by Daniel Perrin, a Revolutionary War veteran. 

Maria Vazquez, M.S. ’18, examined the parasol collection for her thesis, A Shade Above: An Analysis of Parasols in a University Collection. The information here is extracted from her thesis. It is supplemented by images of parasols in women’s magazines in the HTCC.

According to Maria, parasols are an understudied genre of fashion history. They had been used since ancient times by important persons to provide protection and signify rank. A frieze at the British Museum dated ca. 540 BCE shows the Persian ruler Arbinas receiving emissaries while a servant holds an umbrella over him. In a seventeenth-century painting of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, a servant hoists a red parasol to protect her from the sun. European and American men began to adopt umbrellas in the eighteenth century to ward off rain. The terms parasol and umbrella meant the same thing until approximately 1750 when the differentiation was made between the waterproof umbrella and the sun-shading parasol. By the early nineteenth century, parasols become a desirable accessory for fashionable women.

Myriad styles existed based on function and material. Maria Vazquez grouped the HTCC’s parasols into categories. Some categories overlap with others, such as a walking parasol in a fabric signifying mourning for a deceased loved one.

Carriage Parasol

A carriage parasol has a hinge in the middle of the stick that allows it to fold in half. One type of hinge, known as a marquise hinge, pivots the parasol stick in two directions. Carriage parasols came into use in the early nineteenth century for riding in open carriages. They are generally small in size with a thin stick. The HTCC’s twenty-two carriage parasols measure 23 inches to 35 inches in length.

En-tout-cas

This French term means “in any case.” En-tout-cas parasols were developed in the 1860s. They combined the decorative qualities of parasols with the practicality of umbrellas. Later versions of these waterproof accessories had button and loop closures to prevent the ribs from catching.

Sunshade

Sunshade is a general term for a parasol that does not having other defining features such as a marquise hinge. They were made with a variety of materials ranging from the finest woods with inlays to plain wood painted to resemble other more costly materials. Women carried them while strolling in the open air.

Walking Parasol

A walking parasol has a stick that is long enough to touch the ground while walking. Of the eight walking parasols in the HTCC, all date between 1880 and 1925. Materials often incorporate machine-made velvets and laces.

Umbrella

Umbrellas are waterproof. They are made from Gloria cloth, a lightweight tightly-woven fabric generally in plain weave, but occasionally in twill or satin. Umbrellas tend to have a short handle which begins at the end of the rib tips when closed. They have wide expanses when open to protect the user from inclement weather.

Children’s Parasol

Children’s parasols are generally the same shape and size as adult parasols, making them difficult to distinguish. A confirmed provenance is necessary to identify a child’s parasol. A common misconception in museums is that any small parasol was intended for a child or a doll.

Buggy Parasol

Buggy parasols attached to baby or doll carriages. Most pivoted to protect the rider from the sun. They first became popular in the 1840s.

Telegram Parasol

Telegram parasols are distinguished by their diminutive size, about ten inches in length. Popular for a period beginning in 1858 and increasing in the 1860s, they functioned as a fashion accessory rather than an utilitarian object.

Staff Parasol

These parasols have handles at the spiked end instead of the usual end. They are long enough to be held in the hand at the spike, and then be intermittently used as a sunshade. They were most popular during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and between 1865 and 1880.

Piccolo Umbrella

A piccolo umbrella has a silk canopy which can be unscrewed from, and then stored in its hollow wooden handle. Most have a wrist strap attached to the handle.

Mourning Parasol

A parasol with black mourning crape — a gauze fabric with a pebbly texture— is identifiable as a mourning parasol. Mourning crape was used throughout the nineteenth century as a visual symbol of deepest mourning. Any category of parasol could become a mourning parasol with the addition of mourning crape.

1. Valerie Cumming, C. W. Cunnington and P. E. Cunnington, The Dictionary of Fashion History (Oxford and New York: Berg, 2010), 149.
2. Charlotte Mankey Calasibetta and Phyllis Tortora, The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion, 3^rd (New York: Fairchild, 2003), 461.