What better way to celebrate spring than with the new issue of Umbrella? There’s killer fashion from the likes of Stone Island, Paul & Shark, Tuk Tuk and CP Company, plus a brilliant selection of stories that range from a profile of the Tokyo Metro to an indepth look at Malaga, the city that’s turning into Spain’s most vibrant and technologically advanced city. Click on the ”reader” to the right and away you go. Enjoy!

A little while ago we wrote about the London Undercover pop-up shop in Covent Garden, a treasure trove of top-notch umbrellas, bags and, um, fold-up trilby hats.

The shop may have only been around for a month or so, but fear not – LU haven't disappeared, and to prove it they've given us this beautiful brolly to give away to one lucky reader.

Double-lined with their iconic 'Old London Map' lining, you might just start looking forward to hearing the words 'Looks like rain out'. And if you forget your A-Z, it should guide you home, too.

Simply go to our Facebook page, click the 'Win Stuff' tab and follow the instructions to enter. Competition closes on the May 27. Good luck!

In the new issue, we’ve got big report on the excellent Jacket Required fashion show, which featured a lot of our favourite brands showcasing their gear for Autumn/Winter. Until the mag’s out, here’s five of our favourite picks from the likes of Carhartt, Mikkel Rude, Mr Start, Gymphlex and La Paz. All you have to do it wait a few months.

With journalism from destinations as diverse as Tokyo and Dagenham (yes, really) alongside photography via Manchester, illustrations from India and our brilliant fashion section shot on the Brolly HQ roof it’s safe to say you’re in for a treat.

Below is a selection of images of er… Team Umbrella (hard at work) to whet your appetite for what we think is shaping up to be the best issue yet – especially if you love well-known brands like Stone Island, CP Company and Paul & Shark, as well as lesser-known labels such as Gant Rugger and Tuk Tuk. It is, as they say, all good. 

Spread the word, folks: Umbrella issue six is just around the corner and as ever it's totally free. Watch this space (and our Facebook and Twitter) for updates.

Matt & Tony

We love a good brolly here at, um, Umbrella, and they don’t come much better than those sold by London Undercover.

Their website (which also sells beautiful bags by John Chapman, cashmere scarves and lightweight trilby hats) stocks every kind of umbrella you could wish for – from compact commuter fold-ups to majestic premium versions with carved handles made from malacca cane. We'll get them to stock our print copies as soon as we can.

Patterns range from classic tartan prints to camouflage to beans on toast. There’s also a selection of well-chosen collaborations with Carhartt, Albam and A Continuous Lean, but it’s the London-centric versions we’re particularly fond of – featuring prints of a vintage map, pigeons and the iconic Northern Line upholstery.

LU have a pop-up shop on London’s Monmouth Sttreet which will be open every day until April 11, meaning you can invest just in time for those spring showers. Jolly good.

London Undercover on Monmouth  / 38 Monmouth St  / London WC2H 9EP

March 16-April 11, 2012. Mon-Sat. 10am-7.30pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm

NEWSFLASH London Undercover will be giving away an Umbrella for one lucky reader to win. Check the Brolly blog and our facebook page for details.

We don’t tend to associate graffiti atists tend with war, unless they’re protesting against it. But when the chance came for some of the world’s best “writers” (Retna, Andrew Shcoultz, Bast etc) to decorate five USAF planes at a an old airbase base in Arizona, it was obviously too good to miss. The exercise was the second part of the Boneyard Project, overseen by patron Eric Firestone.

He said: “The first part of the Boneyard Project, Nose Job, made its debut in the summer of 2011 with an exhibition of nose cones taken from military aeroplanes and given to artists to use as eccentric- shaped ‘canvases’. The second instalment in this series: Round Trip: Selections from The Boneyard Project, features five monumental works created on military planes by a dynamic selection of popular graffiti and street artists from around the world.”

Read more here:

Without being all Imelda Marcos about it, we love a good pair of shoes at Umbrella. Whether it’s the Saha II from Pointer, Loake booted brogues or just a pair of New Balance 420s, we’re never happier than when we’re examining new footwear. 

That’s why we’re rather excited about ohw? (pronounced “who”), a new brand who specialise in the sort of halfway-house footwear that gets us – and pretty much every other well dressed man of the moment – in a bit of a lather.

Unlike many other shoe labels, ohw? actually manufacture their own shoes (rather than sending the designs off to a factory in the Far East), which means they can keep an eye on the quality control. They say:

“Each pair of ohw? shoes showcases the skills of the factory and the people that make them. The clean, easy design aesthetic lets the quality of the manufacturing, materials and detail shine through. Each shoe has some hand-stitching and is even individually hand-signed by the person doing the final quality check.”

We say, with prices between £95 and £125, they’re definitely worth trying on. 

More here.