Among Friends

[newziesuzie]

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@World Traveler wrote:

@newziesuzie Oh, oh, oh! That must be it! I bet the hosts are referring to the Red Hat Society gals. I never thought about the fact they wear purple; it's the red hat I always notice.

Thank you! 

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@World Traveler

Youre welcome!

😊

[Kachina624]

Perhaps "purple ladies" are the most passionate about their choice of  favorite color?  I think Jacque Gonzales started the purple lady stuff.

[Daysdee]

I think as many said it is just the ladies (like me) that like to wear and decorate with purple.  Maybe they feel it is kind of unusual because some years back you could not find lavender or purple anywhere.  I once called a bath accessory shop to ask about lavender items and the woman told me it wasn't in style and that the earth tones were in.

[Daysdee]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

Perhaps "purple ladies" are the most passionate about their choice of  favorite color?  I think Jacque Gonzales started the purple lady stuff.

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You are correct and Jacque liked purple a lot too.  I don't think it has anything to do with the Red Hat Ladies.  Just those that like purple a lot in clothing, accessories and decorating.

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[missy1]

It's the Red Hat Society. I don't think thats popular here anymore.

[chrystaltree]

They've been making that reference for 20 years and it is a nod to the Red Hat ladies.  They just can't come out and say it but we all understand what the "purple ladies" means.

[Big Sister]

For many, many years I have always associated the Red Hat Society with

ladies who wear purple.  To me, they are connected.

[haddon9]

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@missy1 wrote:

It's the Red Hat Society. I don't think thats popular here anymore.

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I never hear or see anything about them anymore.  They were very popular about 10 years ago but they seem to have faded out.

I like the idea of an older group of women getting together to have fun but never liked the  "red hat & purple clothing" thing.

[qvcaddition]

@haddon9

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@haddon9 wrote:

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@missy1 wrote:

It's the Red Hat Society. I don't think thats popular here anymore.

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I never hear or see anything about them anymore.  They were very popular about 10 years ago but they seem to have faded out.

I like the idea of an older group of women getting together to have fun but never liked the  "red hat & purple clothing" thing.

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The hosts are talking about TRHS.  Was very popular and the Q use to sell some of the stuff year's ago, about 10. It was a lot of fun, but I quit when it got catty, a group of women.  Each society had their group. Made up of friends, neighbors, one lady owned a store and had a signup sheet and sold the outfits in her store and started a group.  It was fun for awhile.

QVC hosts always called them the purple ladies.

[Moonchilde]

I think it has multiple meanings and it depends on the age of the host which meaning they might refer to.

1) Women who like to wear purple.

2) Older women who wear purple, referencing the poem:

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

And I shall spend my pension
on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals,
and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired,
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells,
And run my stick along the public railings,
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens,
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go,
Or only bread and pickle for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats
and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
And pay our rent and not swear in the street,
And set a good example for the children.
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me
are not too shocked and surprised,
When suddenly I am old
and start to wear purple!

3) The Red Hat Society ladies. When these groups started up, they patterned themselves on the verse. Red Hat ladies traditionally wear purple with red hats.