Red Hat Society.

i think the idea behind the Red Hat Society is just fantastic!

i'm sure you've seen them around, these women with very fancy red hats and purple outfits . . .

here's a brief description from the Red Hat Society official website on how it all began:

"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.

Soon, each of them thought of another woman or two she wanted to include, and they bought more red hats. Their group swelled to 18, and they began to encourage other interested people to start their own chapters (18 women don't fit well around a tea table). One of their members passed along the idea to a friend of hers in Florida, and their first "sibling" group was born.

Sue Ellen's fondest hope is that these societies will proliferate far and wide. We have now held three successful Red Hat Society conventions entire hotels filled with women of a certain age wearing red hats and purple outfits! Could world domination be far behind?"

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i love the idea of getting all dressed up in beautiful red hats and purple dresses to go out and have tea or lunch with your friends, while meeting other women in the process :)

you must be at least 50 years of age to be part of the society, however, i just read that there are "pink hatters", which opens up chapters for women under 50 to join until they reach their red hat status.

their main purpose: We are the ones enjoying life to the fullest, no matter where we are or what we are doing! We are the mothers, daughters and grandmothers, of society. Some may ask, "What do you do?" The answer is... We do exactly what we wish to do."

i love it!  i saw a few red hat ladies walking the boardwalk when i was in Monterey, CA two years ago. 

i didn't understand what they were all about, or why they were dressed so extravagantly, 

but now i totally get it.  these women are bold and beautiful and free!

 someday, i hope to be a member.

happy sunday :)