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Sunday, September 9, 2001
Ladies with hattitude
Red hats and purple dresses are the uniform of a local club for sassy women over 50
By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Genie Kruse, who co-founded the Corpus Christi chapter of the Red Hat Society, presides over the group's meeting Aug. 29 at Jeron's Tea Room. Members must wear purple outfits and red hats at every gathering.

When middle age strikes, there are some women who are on a first-name basis with their plastic surgeon and who wouldn't ask for a senior citizen's discount if their lives depended on it.
   Then there are women like Genie Kruse and her friends. For them, advancing age brings freedom, and they are flaunting their liberty. On Aug. 29, Kruse and 10 other women paired purple dresses with red hats and invaded Jeron's Tea Room to start the Corpus Christi chapter of the Red Hat Society.
   Seeing red (and purple)
   When Kruse, a retired medical transcriptionist, heard about the Red Hat Society she thought it sounded like a hoot, but she wasn't sure if she could drum up interest in a local group. But if she was going to do it, she was going to do it right. That meant being adamant about one thing: the dress code.

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

The charter members of the Red Hat Rascals, the Corpus Christi chapter of the national Red Hat Society, took care of business at their first meeting.

   "When people called about the group, we were kind of threatening about it, but I felt if we weren't and one person came who wasn't dressed that way, that would be the end," she said. "It was amazing to me how people accepted that and went into it excited."
   Kruse, 74, and Susan Edwards started calling their friends and soon had a group willing to go public with their clashing wardrobes. Edwards dubbed herself the Queen Mother, with Kruse as the Lady-in-Waiting, and they were in business.
   Words to live by
   The national group was founded in Southern California, when Fullerton resident Sue Ellen Cooper bought a bright red fedora at a thrift shop. More than a year later, she read a poem celebrating old age.

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Margaret Thompson, who belongs to a Red Hat Society chapter in Seguin, joined the Corpus Christi group for their first meeting. 'The Seguin members told us they all got their hats from thrift shops and spray-painted them,' Corpus Christi member Susan Edwards said.

   The first lines of the poem by Jenny Joseph read: "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple; With a red hat that doesn't suit me."
   Cooper, 57, gave a copy of the poem to a friend along with a vintage red hat, and suddenly they had a small group of like-minded women donning the uniform.
   While the founder of a group whose trademark is dressing outlandishly would not seem like a shrinking flower, Cooper said even she was hesitant about donning purple and red.
   "I'm frankly not the silliest person in the world," she said. "When we all met at the tea place, we just started laughing."

To join
Red Hat Rascals (Corpus Christi Chapter) 992-9706
www.redhatsociety.org
Society guidelines:
Members must be women 50 years old or older
Members must wear purple outfits and red hats to all gatherings.
Younger members permitted, but must wear lavender clothes and pink hats.
Rules are prohibited; silliness is required.
Suggested officer titles
Founding Mother, or Queen Mother
Vice-Mother (first to receive a red hat)
Hysterian (keeps scrapbook)
Sergeant-in-gloves (ensures proper behavior, whatever that may be)
Anti-Parliamentarian (makes sure no one makes rules)
E-mail female (manages e-mail)
Source: www.redhatsociety.org
Sample chapter names
Femme Vitales (Arkansas)
Ladies with Hattitude (California)
Scarlett O'Hattas (Georgia)
Chattie Hatties (Iowa)
Red Hat Flashes (Missouri)

   Word spread since the first meeting in 1998, and today Cooper is the Queen Mother of a society that boasts more than 800 chapters worldwide and is planning their first convention next April in Chicago. Bands of decidedly un-mild-mannered ladies have formed groups with names like Austin's "In-Texicated" and "Houston Hotdams."
   Embracing silliness
   Edwards had read Joseph's poem and thought it was hysterical. An avid doll collector, Edwards knew she had to take a trip when she found out a doll-maker in Seguin made dolls inspired by the poem.
   Carol Springs sold the red-hatted dolls to Edwards and told her about the Red Hat Society. Edwards, a retired drama teacher, was intrigued, but not sure she wanted the hassle of forming a group.
   "But this was so informal," Edwards, 63, said. "The only requirements were that we wear red dresses and purple hats."
   Springs and two other members from the Seguin society agreed to come down for the inaugural luncheon.
   "When each person came in, we all oooed and ahhhed over the hats and dresses," Edwards said. "Some of us were even wearing red gloves, and those aren't easy to find."
   Mind you, this is not about who can make the purple-and-red combination look chic.
   "The Seguin members told us they all got their hats from thrift shops and spray-painted them," Edwards said. "You certainly don't have to spend $200."
   They attracted plenty of stares from other diners and several approached them to find out what on Earth was going on. No one, Edwards said, had heard of the group before.
   The Corpus Christi group talked about having future outings including brown bag lunches on the seawall, museum trips, play matinees and visits to other chapters.
   The group includes several travel buffs, so Kruse is planning on having a contingent at next year's convention. The activities will be fun, she imagines, but she's more interested in the visual impact.
   "Can you imagine 3,000 ladies in a hotel lobby wearing purple dresses and red hats?" she asked.
   Swept into the fun
   Until recently, Judy Forbes didn't own any purple clothing. She doesn't even like the color. But Kruse is a dear friend, and Forbes was willing to set aside her fashion preferences for an afternoon. It wasn't easy.
   "I ordered a dress on the Internet," said Forbes, who declined to reveal her age but said she meets the society's over-50 mandate. "It was just hideous, so I sent it back. I finally found some purple linen pants on sale."
   Forbes found a sleeveless purple top to match, borrowed a red hat from Kruse and set out for the luncheon. She pulled up at Jeron's Tea Room and briefly wondered if she had the guts to get out of her car in this get-up.
   "Then I saw a couple of ladies in red hats, and I thought, 'OK, this is going to be real.'"
   A couple of Forbes' friends saw her at lunch and wondered what she was up to. Her husband thought the idea was funny, but when she called her daughter in Dallas, Forbes said the reaction was less than enthusiastic.
   "She said, 'Oh Mom, you're not to really going to do that are you?' But it was just funny to see how everyone came dressed for this, and you couldn't help but get in the spirit with them because they were so excited."
   Forbes isn't sure how often she can bear to wear purple, but she said she heartily embraces the spirit of the organization.
   "I know people in their 40s who are already old; you know what I mean?" Forbes asked. "I think it's good to have this kind of frivolous fun. I think you can let yourself have fun in public and still have class."
   Still, in a culture that celebrates youth and shows celebrities like Lauren Hutton and Sophia Lauren as paragons of graceful aging, how has a group so unabashedly tacky taken hold?
   While Cooper has had to get organized about Red Hat events, she still maintains that the attraction of the group is that it is a disorganized organization.
   "My generation and older generations did not play much," she said. "We grew up and became mothers pretty young. We didn't mind, but then we got to a point where we thought, 'You know, I could do this thing if my friends will do it with me.' We have no jobs and no committees. We just play."


Contact Leanne Libby at 886-3615 or libbyl@caller.com

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