About seven years ago I boarded an Amtrak train in Denver, headed for the west coast. A woman, near my age, smiled at me from across the aisle and asked if I had made the trip before. "Yearly," I answered. "Is it beautiful?" she inquired. "Gorgeous, and soon we'll be in the treetops of the Rockies," I replied. "I wonder if my Red Hatters would like to do this as they are a traveling group," she mused, "would you recommend it?" "Yes and what's a Red Hatter anyway?" I shot back. En route with the California Zephyr I discovered the Red Hat Society.
As life slowed down a few years later I really noticed the Red Hatters around town. I always loved hats which seemed to fade away sometime after Jackie Kennedy's famous pillbox. My questions to Red Hatters now began: "What do you do?" "Have an awful lot of fun," they replied.
The Red Hat Society is a sisterhood born in 1998 after the now Exalted Queen Mother, Sue Ellen Cooper, gave her friend, Linda Murphy, a red fedora and a copy of Jenny Joseph's poem "Warning." It began: "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat that doesn't go....." And so a tradition was born.
Sue Ellen and friends started dressing in red hats with purple clothing and going to tea. They called it a Society and as word spread other women wanted to join. Women's magazines wrote about the idea and The Red Hat Society took on a life of its own. Now in its 10
th year, the international RHS has swelled to an ocean of women.
As of Oct. 2006, the RHS was listed in 30 other countries with 1.5 million registered members. There were 40,000 registered chapters in the U.S. alone. I went to the official RHS Website and found the membership countries listed from Albania to Zambia with the Society on every continent except for Antarctica. It has one rule: "Wear the Red Hat and purple clothing proudly if you're fifty or over and if under fifty, wear a Pink Hat and lavender clothing."
Late last September five of us attended the Red Hat Rendezvous at the Marriott Hotel in Golden, Colorado. On Friday, while having coffee, a Red Hatter approached us saying she was the only member of her chapter attending from Aurora. She immediately became one of ours for the next three days. Nearly 300 Red Hatters from all over Colorado and surrounding states arrived during those hours and the Marriott was overrun with a sea of red and purple. The weekend featured a Rock'n Roll Party, a pajama breakfast, high tea, a fashion show and the formal evening dinner where strangers were peeking into the huge dining room to admire the riot of reds and purples.
Queen Judy McNair, a Red Hat Queen from Colorado Springs with a genius for scouting thrift stores, conducted "The Second Hand Rose Fashion Show." The dresses she'd been collecting and clothing friends with were nothing short of cheap and fabulous. One Red Hat model wore a dazzling purple, sequined, peacock gown, originally around a thousand dollars and purchased for $14.95. Another Red Hatter modeled a beautiful floor length red silky number, reminiscent of Gloria Swanson, and purchased for $3.
Two young women approached me with questions about the Society and all these women in the hotel in these Red Hats! One wanted to join as a Pink Hatter and bring her mom in as a Red Hatter. She stopped by to see the ladies at dinner on formal night, armed with a large camera while the nearly 300 women were seated.
They photographed the huge dining room where some Red Hatters wore costumes from the 1890's to the present, including western outfits. Outside of color there are no dress codes for formal night. The hats ranged from huge, wide Victorians, sequined evening cloches and fancy cowgirl hats. There were feathers, boas, flowers, rhinestones, and beautiful trappings everywhere. "This is for me," the young woman declared. "I already called my dad and he wants to see mom in a red hat." Red Hatters have frequently reported that bystanders, especially men, have approached them with compliments on their appearance.
Fast forward this to the Queens Christmas lunch at the Broadmoor Hotel. We were 60 plus Red Hatters, visiting just before lunch when a table full of female, Japanese tourists was pointing at us and waving from across the room. We waved and they broke into huge smiles. Japan has at least six RHS chapters officially listed.
The Colorado Springs Red Hatters are out there having fun and doing some philanthropic activities. You see strangers in a public place wearing the Red Hats so you approach them and identify yourself. "What's your chapter?" is always the question.
We come from all walks of life. In my own group one of our beautiful Pink Hatters is a Lt. Colonel with the US Army and definitely out of camouflage at lunch. Our Chapter Queen, Sandy Snider, puts in a full work week and always finds time to welcome newcomers.
Chapters generally meet for lunch once a month and the RHS Queens (leaders) from each group meet monthly to plan chapter wide yearly activities such as a Luau, a Red Hat Roundup, and a Fashion Show. Some clubs have minimal dues; others have none as keeping it very affordable is important. Extra money from the Queens Council goes to charities.
Lady Rosebud, Jan Carroll, and Lady Gardenia, JoAnn Anderson, are the Co-Queens over some 67 registered chapters in Colorado Springs and surrounding towns with a few Queens coming in from Teller and Douglas Counties to attend the Council. There are no rules except what the ladies themselves chose to institute. Queens meetings are laced with plans, laughter, camaraderie and lunch. Lady Rosebud calls order with a cowbell.
.........and so I'm in Wal Mart, wearing my hat and the monthly lunch is over today. Two teenaged girls step in front of me. "Are you a Red Hat Lady?" one inquires. "Yes," I say, and she responds in awe: "Oh that is so way cool and your hat is so cool."
For more information, contact the Official Red Hat Web site at "www.redhatsociety.com"