She may get some interested looks, admiring comments and a few chuckles from her classmates, but that doesn't stop Molly DeWitt from sporting her favorite rainwear.
Even one year after it was purchased for her from a store in North Carolina as a high school graduation gift, the freshman history and French major continues to face the rain with her favorite umbrella — which happens to be decorated as a frog.
"It's a kid's umbrella, so it's kind of small, but it's cute so I keep using it," she said.
DeWitt falls into the recent trend of fashionable rainwear, which includes bright colors and fun designs, associate fashion merchandising professor Diana Saiki said.
"On the New York sales floors we've been seeing recently in fashion really saturated, bright colors," she said.
March, which is National Umbrella Month, may sometimes be gray and dreary, but the trend for fashionable rainwear comes in umbrellas and rubber boots with bold, graphic and floral prints that can be accessorized with contemporary hats, scarves and trench coats, Saiki said.
Tracy Dickey, Maurice's store manager in Anderson, said the general trend for spring fashion holds for umbrellas and fashionable rainwear. Her store's branch hasn't gotten any spring trench coats in but has sold "quite a few" fashion umbrellas for what she has in stock during the March and April rainy season.
Anything in hot pink, purple or green tends to sell well during those months, she said.
Besides the bright trend, some students rely on the quality of their purchase to protect themselves from the elements. Freshman public relations major Ali Gelhaus said she tries to mix fashion into the practicality of her rainwear. Instead of buying expensive designer boots and umbrellas, she opts for cheaper versions with colors and interesting prints that match her outfits.
"I wasn't going to spend a lot of money on Coach rainboots just to have them get ruined," she said.
While no one exactly knows who invented the umbrella, or exactly when, it's estimated that it was being used as much as 4,000 years ago. Umbrellas have been found in the artifacts of ancient Egypt, Greece and China, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the past, the umbrella, the name of which comes from "umbra," the Latin word for shade, was used for sun protection more so than as a rain shield. Advances in technology during the beginning of the 20th century might have also led to a decrease in umbrella use for blocking the sun, she said.
"People don't walk as much outdoors to commute when the weather isn't as rainy since the invention of the automobile," Saiki said.
Saiki predicts an overall bright future for umbrellas in fashion accessorizing aided by emerging technology, such as bubble umbrellas, which is a large, clear umbrella that covers more of the body. Saiki said the practicality of new designs is still somewhat cloudy.
"We'll maybe see smart technology measuring body temperature," she said, "but the practicality of bubble umbrellas is way in the future."
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