Keeping Cool: Fans and Parasols

[KittyT]

Well summer is in full swing, ladies! Do any of you use fans or parasols to keep cool in the summer heat? Let's see photos! Where did you get your item?

I'm still looking for a parasol to carry this summer - I've been searching ebay and know that http://www.pearlriver.com and http://www.mybabyjo.com have nice ones, better than I've found in Boston's Chinatown. I'm also still looking for a nice light-colored fan to carry, maybe a vintage 50s celluloid one. In any case, here's a non-vintage one I got recently:

 

[Polka Dot]

That's a beautiful fan, Kitty.

I'm entirely non-vintage when it comes to keeping cool. I like central air.

 

[Rosie]

I use a parasol though, I only have two. I got one from ebay, I'll have to take a pic of it the other I got from pearl river, a store down in Chinatown: http://www.pearlriver.com

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

While I have several parasols I do feel a bit silly carrying them over here Perhaps I'll get over that ssoon...we have no summer anyway so I don't need one!

However, I would die without my fan on the tube and train. I have a chinese paper and bamboo one and a sandalwood one. I love the sandalwood one, it smells divine!

 

[timorous me]

I ADORE my parasols. I have several. I bought most of them in Chinatown.

 

[Brooksie]

I have some fans that were my grandma's. I bought a parasol from Goodwill last month (it is a pretty aqua blue rice) it was $2.99 and I bought another one from goodwill a couple weeks ago and it was $3.99, it is a cool looking two toned one cloth not paper and looks to be from the 50's and I have another one that I inherited from my ex-husbands great aunt, i was told it was from the victorian era - it is a small black cloth parasol with a jeweled handle (it looks like it would go with one of those all black victorian mourning dresses) and it is water proof also. I really would like another asian one - a silk one with the blossoms painted on it, I saw a few durring my last visit to Portland at a store for only $6.99 and I passed it up :rage: and I should not have done that! I know - you wanted pics but sorry I have been working 10 and 11 hour days!

LB

 

[Paisley]

All my fans are electric.

 

[Babydoll]

I'm very pale skinned, and burn easily. (Only took an hour last time to burn my *scalp*!!) So, I took my parasol to my cousin's outdoor Fourth of July celebration on Wednesday. The Mister teased me about it, my cousin took photos of me with it, but the most important was I didn't get burned!

(I bought it from a friend that used to sell them as part of her online store.)

 

[imoldfashioned]

I have a carved sandalwood fan that I got at Pier One about a million years ago (okay, I guess it only seems that long ago!). It still has a faint scent after all this time, which is lovely.

I'd love to get a parasol--I may have to make a lunch sojourn to Chinatown next week!

 

[goldwyn girl]

All my fans are electric.

HEHE.......... all my fans want my autograph

I have a pink silk parasol which I use and in the Vegas heat thats frequently.

 

[~*Red*~]

I love my fans! I dance a lot, and never leave home without them! And my husband..(god love him)..just came home from deployment with a new fan for me from Singapore. It's my new favorite, I'll post a pic later today. I have another favorite, but it's somewhere in storage with much of my other vintage things like compacts and mirrors...
I've never used parasols, but I love seeing ladies with them, and think, man, I could use one of those...I just don't know if I could pull it off.

 

[KittyT]

I want photos, ladies!

 

[gluegungeisha]

I love carrying parasols while walking in the sun, but the amount of attention I get is very strange. I had two people ask to take pictures of me last time! I don't have a fan, but have been looking for one. I passed up a VERY cute $1 one at my favorite grocery store in Chinatown, NY.

I get EVERYTHING in Chinatown -- I love it! I always go to Kung Fu stores for those $4 mary janes.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

If you are the crafty sort....

Oriental Trading Company has boxes of paper parasols that are just white. Box of either 15 or so for under 20 bucks I think it was.

I at one point had ones that matched certain outfits. You can gently paint/dye them...using watered down paint in a spray bottle, allowing lots of drying time and multiple coats of the spray.

I then crochetted a little scrunchie like thing to slide over it to keep it closed.

 

[goldwyn girl]

Always happy to supply a pic

 

[timorous me]

my favorites are the painted silk lacquered ones... i loved my white silk parasol with pink painted cherry blossoms and blue lacquered spokes so much... i can't believe i broke it!

it does draw a lot of attention, and most of it negative - but i don't care! I FEEL PRETTY!

 

[KittyT]

it does draw a lot of attention, and most of it negative - but i don't care! I FEEL PRETTY!

Really? What kind of negative attention do you get?

 

[Elle]

I have a ton of parasols. Some that have yet to see the sunlight. Make that most.
I bought the majority of them at this fair type thing my hometown does every Thursday night. And I got my favorite one from my favorite place, Disneyland.
I am currently looking for a nice Edwardian parasol to add to my collection.

As for fans, my mother is from the Philippines so all I ever got were these bamboo weave ones. I'm not super fond of them so I've never broken them out.

 

[Donna/Dante]

I almost always have a fan in a pocket or my handbag, year-round, as nightclubs can get stuffy no matter what time of year, and in summer, well, the DC area's built atop a swamp, and it certainly feels like it in summer! I collect fans, and friends and my husband have been kind enough to pick up interesting ones for me when they come across them in their travels, so I have a small collection of pretty and interesting ones to go with different outfits.

As to parasols, I have four that were gifted to me from a friend in Seattle, one of them needs to be re-covered, as it's a vintage piece and the silk is splitting but the frame is sound. The other three are in great shape and are wonderful for keeping the sun off of my (rather pale) self.

-d, glowing in Alexandria, VA

 

[~*Red*~]

I finally figured out this posting pics thing.. so here are my two fans I use most right now..
Here is my fan from Singapore:

And my fan I picked up at World Market: