Poetry Party 2: Wearing Purple

Take a poem 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.

(Jenny Joseph. Warning)

add one thrift shop impulse-buy red hat and what do you get? Just to show you the power of the pen, you get the Red Hat Society.

Founder Red Hat Queen Bee Sue Ellen Cooper bought the hat, read the poem and now The Red Hat Society boasts thousands of members, its own credit card, online shop and travel perks. There are few rules but you have to be over 50 and you must wear red and purple at Society functions.

Not being over-50 I can’t describe it as well as they can:

"The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next."

- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother

Their website continues:

While visiting a friend in Tucson several years ago, Sue Ellen impulsively bought a bright red fedora at a thrift shop, for no other reason than that it was cheap and, she thought, quite dashing. A year or two later she read the poem "Warning" by Jenny Joseph, which depicts an older woman in purple clothing with a red hat. Sue Ellen felt an immediate kinship with Ms. Joseph. She decided that her birthday gift to her dear friend, Linda Murphy, would be a vintage red hat and a copy of the poem. She has always enjoyed whimsical decorating ideas, so she thought the hat would look nice hanging on a hook next to the framed poem. Linda got so much enjoyment out of the hat and the poem that Sue Ellen gave the same gift to another friend, then another, then another.

One day it occurred to these friends that they were becoming a sort of "Red Hat Society" and that perhaps they should go out to tea... in full regalia. They decided they would find purple dresses which didn't go with their red hats to complete the poem's image.

The tea was a smashing success……