What did you use to protect your hair from the rain this week? An umbrella? The hood of your coat? A jacket awkwardly draped over your head? Or are you in a long-term relationship with your spotty Rainmate bonnet, which may not win any prizes for its sartorial appeal, but at the same time is easy to carry and never fails to protect your blow-dry.

When succumbing to the drizzle – and the inevitable frizzy hair that follows – isn’t an option, there aren’t many solutions that could be described as chic, but the bonnet, a blast from the past along with galoshes and the Pac-a-Mac, is at least practical as it takes up little space in the handbag and keeps your hands free. No wonder the multipacks on Amazon have four and five-star ratings. Granny really does know best. 

They weren’t perfect, of course. That’s to be expected from a product that costs little more than £1. “Good grief,” one Gransnet user remarked. “Those things where the rain runs down into the pleats and onto the ties and then drips down your neck and cleavage!”

If you can believe it, the utilitarian aesthetic which has been dominating the catwalks over the past couple of years means that the rain hood is back in fashion. In 2022, this is part bucket hat, part sou’wester, and currently gracing some of the most stylish heads in London and beyond. There’s a printed version, designed to be worn with a matching raincoat at Boden; a minimalist Rains bucket hat at Whistles (£29, whistles.com); an orange padded hood at H&M (£19.99, hm.com) and an Arket x Tretorn one made from recycled plastic that has the luxurious-looking sheen of premium leather (£45, arket.com). The only ones I’d avoid are the high fashion designer ones, which cost upwards of £300 yet none of which appears to be actually waterproof.

Leading the charge with this trend though, is a new label, L’Hood, founded by fashion journalist Carolyn Asome, hair stylist Elliot Taylor and fashion designer David Szeto. The idea, born during lockdown, was to create a practical, sustainable and durable alternative to the 1.1 billion umbrellas that are thrown away each year. 

So far so good. But the rain hood had an image problem in that they were largely associated with the blue rinse set. If they were to convince the masses, they’d have to make it sexy. Enter Szeto, who took inspiration from Cristobal Balenciaga’s 1967 wedding hat and the headwear of actress Gene Tierney in 1940s film noir. The result was the ‘Ritza’ (£49.99, l-hood.com), a headpiece that wouldn’t look out of place at fashion week over an artfully dishevelled blunt bob. 

It took 18 months to perfect the design, which can be worn multiple ways, and folded down and snapped around the wrist or a handbag strap when not in use. It’s a bit like the slap bracelets that were so beloved of children and teenagers in the 1980s, but much more useful. The idea is that, unlike an umbrella or a bulky hooded raincoat, the wearer can keep their hands free whether they’re using it or not.

“Being stylish doesn’t mean not being practical,” Asome says. “I feel that real style is being ready for every occasion and dressing for the weather. You look at the most stylish women, like Inès de la Fressange and Jane Birkin, and it’s effortless. They don’t look ridiculous, tottering down the road in high heels they can’t walk in.”

It still had a Marmite reception. When one friend shared a photo of herself in her L’Hood in our WhatsApp group, it divided opinion: several of us (women with temperamental hair) deemed it a genius umbrella alternative, while another (male, short hair) was baffled by the fuss over what he thought was a granny rain hat that’s had a Handmaid’s Tale makeover. “It looks ridiculous,” he remarked. “Call the fashion police.” 

I’m prepared to make a case for the former, and not just because I could have done with one on my commute yesterday morning. I routinely lose umbrellas by leaving them to dry in a soggy pile by the door of wherever I happen to be. Those that I do remember to take home tend to break after a few uses. I can see myself tossing a Ritza into my handbag along with my fold-up reusable carrier bag, phone and keys. 

But what really indicates promise for L’Hood is that its appeal is broader than fashion people alone. When I pitched this feature, several colleagues replied to say that they now want one too.

“Everyone can wear it, I liked that inclusivity,” Asome says. “A child can muck around with it, because it’s practical, and they love slapping it on the wrist. But my 84-year-old mother in law, who plays golf, wears it on the course because she doesn’t want to carry an umbrella.

“I think any great product really is something that is accessible for everyone.”

What do you think of the new style rain bonnets? Let us know in the comments section below