After nearly 2,000 years of using capes, oiled cloaks, and mantles for protection against the rain, this new-fangled contraption…

“After nearly 2,000 years of using capes, oiled cloaks, and mantles for protection against the rain, this new-fangled contraption was viewed with something approaching disbelief. Who did people think they were, to defy the very skies? To parade their frugality on the streets? Or, to take a slightly different view of it, to pretend to a luxury–sheltered transport–only available to the wealthy?”

– Marion Rankin,How Bigotry, Urban Design, And Class Warfare Shaped The Umbrella (2017)