Red Hat Society
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Red Hat Society (RHS) is a social organization founded in 1998 for women over age 50. As of October 2006 there are about 1.5 million registered members in over 40,000 chapters in the United States and 30 other countries.[1]
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[edit] History
The founder of the society is Fullerton, California, artist Sue Ellen Cooper, who in 1998 gave a friend a 55th birthday gift consisting of a red fedora she had bought a year earlier at a thrift store along with a copy of Jenny Joseph's poem "Warning", whose opening lines read:
| “ | When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me. |
” |
Cooper repeated the gift on request several times, and eventually the group all bought purple outfits and held a tea party.[2]
At first spreading by word of mouth, the society received national publicity in 2000 through the magazine Romantic Homes[2] and a feature in The Orange County Register that ran nationally.[3] Cooper then established a "Hatquarters" to field the hundreds of e-mail requests for help starting chapters. She now serves as "Exalted Queen Mother", and has written two best-selling books about the society.[3]
[edit] Organization
The Red Hat Society fondly refers to itself as a "dis-organization" with the aim of social interaction, and to encourage fun, silliness, creativity, and friendship in middle age and beyond. The society is not a sorority or a voluntary service club. There are no initiations or fundraising projects.
A founder or leader of a local chapter is usually referred to as a "Queen". Members are called "Red Hatters". Members 50 and over wear red hats and purple attire to all functions. A woman under age 50 may also become a member, but she wears a pink hat and lavender attire to the Society's events until reaching her 50th birthday.
[edit] Activities
Both Red and Pink Hatters often wear very elaborately decorated hats, and attention-getting fashion accessories such as a feather boa at the group's get-togethers. The society's events vary depending on the chapter, but one of the more favored pastimes among most Red Hatters is attending or giving a tea party.
The organization has published four books: Red Hat Society: Fun and Friendship after 50, Red Hat Society's Laugh Lines: Stories of Inspiration and Hattitude, Designer Scrapbooks the Red Hat Society Way , and The Red Hat Society Cookbook which features recipes submitted by members. Two other books, My Red Hat, and My Red Hattitudes, published by Red Wheel/Weiser, also reflect the personalities of these women who call themselves Red Hatters. Regional gatherings called "Funventions" are held several times a year, along with official Red Hat Society events.
The official Red Hat Society day is April 25 each year.
In 2006 the group successfully commissioned its own musical titled, Hats! The New Musical for the Rest of Your Life.
[edit] In popular culture
Homage is paid to the Red Hat Society in one episode of The Simpsons, "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas", wherein Marge joins a group called the Cheery Red Tomatoes. Also, in Brian Crane's comic strip Pickles, the character Opal is a member of the Red Hat Society. In the show Still Standing, in the episode "Still Cruising" Bill's mother, Louise, is a member of the Red Hat Society and tricks Judy, her daughter-in-law, into going on a Red Hat Society cruise with her.
Corner Gas, a Canadian comedy sitcom, has one of the main characters, Lacey Burrows, join the "Purple Hat Society", making a reference to the Red Hat Society
In the comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm a Red Hatter is shown sitting with the College of Cardinals. One of the cardinals informs her, "Madame, this is not that kind of red hat society."
The Red Hat Society is featured on an episode of the CBC show The Week the Women Went, wherein a contingent of members descend on the small Canadian town of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, to visit the shops, restaurants and services while the women of the town are away on vacation.
The Red Hat Society is parodied in an episode of the children's cartoon "Chowder," called "The Big Hat Bitties." In the episode Truffles is auditioning for a place in the Marzipan Big Hat Bitties, where she must impress what is implied to be the parodied version of the local RHS Queen in order to join the club.
[edit] References
- ^ McElroy, Steven (October 11, 2006). "Lift Every Over-50 Voice and Sing, Ladies, Sing". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/theater/11hats.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
- ^ a b Mary Jane Solomon (October 22, 2004). "Crimson Tide". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51463-2004Oct21?language=printer. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ a b Korky Vann (July 16, 2007). "Red Hat Society: Hats off to a celebration of friendship". The Hartford Courant. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003790629_redhat16.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
