The Red Hat Society would not be what it is today without the influence of the poem "Warning," by Jenny Joseph, and the notions that the Red Hatters adopted from this poem about growing old.  The poem is a light hearted call for older women to have fun and to make up for all the years that they were serious, prim, and proper. The Red Hat Society's full regalia was developed in credit to this poem's depiction of the old woman who wears a purple outfit with a red hat, and does not mind what other may think of her exuberant new lifestyle. "Warning," by Jenny Joseph has a long and heartfelt history with the Red Hat Society, and Red Hatters certainly live by the ideals set forth in this poem.

Warning
"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me..."

    -- Jenny Joseph

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