Red Hat Society in Nashville

All photos by Chip Curley, click on pictures for full size. Please visit my Nashville Tennessee Websites and my other photo galleries Video of their parade and video of their theme song.The Red Hat Society is not a sorority or a voluntary service club. There are no initiations, no fundraising projects, no rules and no bylaws. Its aim is social interaction, and to encourage fun, silliness, creativity, and friendship in middle age and beyond. The society takes its name from the opening lines of the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph, which starts: When I am an old woman I shall wear purple with a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me. A founder or leader of a local chapter is usually referred to as the "Queen Mum". Members are called "Red Hatters". Full members must be over fifty years old. They wear red hats and purple dresses. Women under fifty may also join, but they are referred to as junior postulants or "Pink Hatters". They must wear pink hats and lavender dresses to the society's events until they reach their fiftieth birthdays. Both Red and Pink Hatters often tend to wear very elaborately decorated hats, and attention-getting fashion accessories such as a feather boa. The club's events vary depending on the chapter, but one of the more favored pastimes amongst most Red Hatters is attending or giving a tea party. The official Red Hat Society day is April 25 each year and these pictures were taken at Opry Mills Mall in Nashville.

April 25, 2006