Birth of the Red Hat Society
British poet and children’s author Jenny Joseph penned the poem “Warning”, the inspiration for the Red Hat Society, in 1961. The poem starts, “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple, with a red hat that doesn’t go.” It is basically warning the reader that if you expect an “old” woman to act a certain way, think again. There is to much fun to be had to worry about such nonsense.
Society founder Sue Ellen Cooper, known as “Exalted Queen Mother,” gifted a friend a copy of the poem and a red hat. Decked out in her own red hat found at a thrift shop, Cooper and her friend started going out for tea. Two became four, four became eight, until within a short time, nearly twenty friends were flashing southern California the full red and purple. That group splintered off into another, and as the women attracted media attention, the word of this frivolous “dis-organization” spread.
Red Hatters believe that “daughters of society” may indeed grow up but they are never to old to enjoy playing dress-up and attending tea parties. The deeper mission is to alter the way women over fifty are viewed by society and by each other.
