Love Those Red Hats!

Bayfield, Wisconsin

 Today is RED HAT SOCIETY DAY.  It all started when Sue Ellen bought a bright red fedora hat on a impulse at a thrift shop.  A few years later, she read a poem called “Warning” written in 1961 by Jenny Joseph which is about an older woman in purple clothing wearing a red hat. The poem begins with the lines: “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple, With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.” She liked the poem so much she gave a framed copy of it, along with a red hat, to her friend Linda as a birthday present.  Linda enjoyed the gift so much that Sue Ellen started giving the same gift to other friends. One day they all decided they should dress up in purple (like the lady in the poem) and wear their red hats out to tea together. Soon they were doing this on a regular basis and inviting other friends to join them. As the group became too large, sister groups were formed. Now they hold conventions that fill entire hotels with red hatted women having a great time together. Women over 50 are the “Red Hatters”; those not yet 50 wear pink hats.

This year the Red Hat gals will celebrate their 14th birthday at the Hard Rock Café  - Hollywood.  They are now a global sisterhood of women whose mission is fun, friendship, freedom, fulfillment and fitness. In only five years they’d grown to 40,000 chapters worldwide. For more information, their official website is: http://www.redhatsociety.com/

To read Jenny Joseph’s poem that inspired this sisterhood and, see:

http://www.wheniamanoldwoman.com/pages/348544/index.htm

I first heard about this group while at an artist retreat near Duluth, Minnesota in the summer of 2006. One of our fellow artists was a member and was explaining to us what the group was all about.  Imagine my surprise when one Saturday morning a year later, I happened to spot a small group of “Hatters” while on a self-directed artist retreat in Wisconsin. I was waiting to board a tour boat when I spied this group having their pictures taken on the balcony of their bed and breakfast suite. There appears to be three of them, posing with a sign and holding a couple of extra red hats (maybe for members who couldn’t be with them that day for one reason or another).

Below is my review of Sue Ellen's book:

THE RED HAT SOCIETY: Fun & Friendship After Fifty  - Sue Ellen Cooper (432 pp, LP)
©2004   Maybe, by now, you’ve heard of the Red Hat Society or wondered about those groups of middle-aged women seen frolicking in public dressed in purple and wearing red hats. The Society, whose only rule is “no rules,” just celebrated its 12th anniversary and has grown from a small group of friends (inspired by Jenny Joseph’s poem “Warning”) to a “disorganization” of many chapters in the U.S. and 17 other countries.

The book tells the history of the group, with many inspirational testimonials from members about the fun and friendship they’ve found by starting and joining a chapter. While many people dread the Big 5-0, this book illustrates that one’s Half-Century birthday need not be a time of looking back nostalgically at the great times one enjoyed when she was younger, but can be an awesome adventure in aging gracefully and looking forward to more great times ahead.