Red Hat Society

[bikercelt1]

OK I give in! I confess to never having heard of this large organisation you all seem to know.

When I was a child (Oh, SO many years ago!), there was a popular, if common, saying : "Red hat - no drawers!", and I remember my mother telling me that no 'Lady' would ever wear a red hat.

I am afraid that is what I was thinking of.

That's funny! I've never heard that saying before but both my wife and mother are red hat ladies and, while I know that doesn't apply to Gina and I don't want to know if it applies to my mother, that's exactly the sort of societal standards that the "Red Hatters" like to defy. They don't go looking for conflicts but they do relish shocking people out of complacency and making them re-examine their biases. Kind like another group that likes to dress to suit themselves instead of the way society wants them to. I guess I come by it honestly.

Oh, and by the way, a woman under 50 can be a member but she's known as a "pink princess" and when she becomes eligible for full membership they celebrate by holding a "red-uation". These Ladies are a hoot. You never know what off the wall event the'll decide to go to next. None of the Red Hat Ladies I know take themselves seriously even though most of them are extremely competent and accomplished women in their own right.

Jamie

[MacSimoin]

...None of the Red Hat Ladies I know take themselves seriously even though most of them are extremely competent and accomplished women in their own right.

Jamie

That about sums it up. Well said.

[Kizmet]

there was a popular, if common, saying : "Red hat - no drawers!", and I remember my mother telling me that no 'Lady' would ever wear a red hat.

I've been wearing red hats for years!

And you guys get your kilts in a knot when people ask you about your underpinnings!

LOL

[MacWage]

Herd/swarm of Red Hatties
Rabble to kilties

Much different (besides gender -mostly- and garment of choice)?

[Bob C]

Colin,

That is incorrect. I know of several women under the age of fifty who are 'Red Hatters', my fiance Wendi being a [former] member and also age 35. Her best friend (also age 35) still attends the meetings/outings.

Colin had it right. This is from their website:

Q. Are there any rules?

A. The spirit of the Red Hat Society forbids rules, per se. There are, however, some common-sense guidelines that we must insist upon:
You must be a woman of 50 or over (or you may be a Pink Hatter under 50), and you must attend functions in full regalia, (red hat, purple outfit for women 50 and over, or pink hat and lavender outfit for women under 50).
And, although we try not to concentrate on it too much, we do have some policies and legalese you need to agree to in order to become a member. (Probably no more than any other group out there and unfortunately necessary.) Click here for more information »
Ladies are strongly encouraged to follow these color guidelines, and to NOT wear purple/red until they have reached THE BIRTHDAY.

[Barclay]

So my question is which one of my Canadian brothers isss going to claim this lovely lady?

Well, my Mom is a red hatter, and I did live in the GTA (Toronto-ish, Burlington, Oakville, Bronte) for a while, she is not in Colorado. That means there may be two of us! LOL

[Colin]

Colin had it right. This is from their website:

Thanks Bob C. I was just about to post that. You can find that here http://www.redhatsociety.com/membership/?

My mother has looked into joining but decided against it (??). She does sell alot of red hats and purple dresses in her store though, and has a big Red Hat client base.

[B. Somm]

I'm curious to see if any of the Rabble have noticed any upsurge of Red Hatters in your area over the past couple of years. Of course living in Arizona, Red Hatters are everywhere!

(Since this was in "GKT", I wonder what a red & purple RHS tartan kilt would look like?!)

There's a group of them in my SCA* barony who have actually managed to form a household of sorts based on their RHS membership....complete with red & purple garb and their own heraldry! As obnoxious as their 'colors' are, ya gotta admit, they sure are creative in the way that they have interjected a modern group into a "Middle-Ages" based society...now that is a true "anachronism"!

B.

(*SCA=Society for Creative Anachronism for those that don't know.)

[CactusJack]

I met a couple of very nice ladies from Red Hat Society at this years Tartan Day Festival here in St. Louis.
THey aske if I would mind posing with them for a picture because I was the first person they saw that day wearing a purple kilt.



picture is a clickable link

[James MacMillan]

My wife is one of those crazy purple dressed red-hatters.... She seems to have fun at the meetings and outings that she attends.