MIDDLE AGE PUTS ON A SHOW OF COLORS

They have definitely solved the invisibility issue, these women in red hats

and purple dresses.

They dress to be seen, that being part of the goal of the Red Hat Society

-- to greet middle age with ''verve, humor and elan,'' in the words of its

founder, Sue Ellen Cooper.

The 56-year-old Fullerton artist and mother of two came up with the Red

Hats after reading the poem called ''Warning'' by British writer Jenny Joseph

that starts: ''When I am an old woman I shall wear purple/With a red hat which

doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.''

Sue Ellen gave it to a friend on her 50-something birthday along with a red

hat. Soon there were more friends and more hats and the group went out to

lunch and dubbed themselves the Red Hat Society. A story on the group ran in

Romantic Homes magazine, was picked up by a news wire service, hit the front

page of the Washington Post and word keeps spreading. Now there are 267 Red

Hat chapters in six countries.

These are women who believe in flaunting their middle age solidarity and

who say they meet just to have fun. The fun varies, depending on the chapter.

One group's tea party is another's wine tasting. But when they're together

they all display the official red and purple, a color combo that would have

made their mothers shudder.

Sue Ellen, who goes by the title of Queen Founding Mother allowing her to

wear big jeweled earrings and toss a feather boa around her neck, credits the

Internet with spreading her message in such a short time. She says the fact

that older women have hooked up online is but one example of how they're

insisting on being players in the larger world.

Up until recently she communicated by e-mail (www.redhatsociety.com). Now

she's taking her message on the road and announcing plans for the first

national convention of Red Hats next spring in Chicago.

Her first official appearance was earlier this month in Princeton, Ill., a

small town of big brick homes and old farm money near Peoria where Red Hat

regional members ruled for two days and I was invited along for the hoot. Shop

windows were full of red hats. The local media made a big deal of it. ''The

Today Show'' sent a crew from Chicago.

In slinky purple dress atop a willowy frame and Queen Mum hat on un-gray

hair, Sue Ellen reminded the women that the Red Hat Society is as much a state

of mind as place. ''This is where we play.''

Sue Ellen's goal all along has been to create a retreat for women who have

spent years working on careers, managing homes, hauling kids, volunteering for

committees. And now they're taking a time out.

Her favorite question from the media is, ''What do you do'' and her

favorite answer is ''nothing.''

Most organizers would kill for such a winning recruitment ploy, but then

they'd have to put members to work saving the world according to one agenda or

another. But this is more like an old fashioned women's club than feminist

huddle. Sue Ellen describes herself as a Christian but she's not proselytizing

nor does she want anyone else to. She talks about promoting sisterhood but

it's more about making friends than getting women elected to office.

A woman from Virginia reports she got through colon cancer surgery by

wearing a red hat with her hospital garb. There's a group of Red Hat

motorcycle riders called the Harley Harlots. In Sonoma County the chapter is

Dames of Vines and Roses. There's a nudist chapter in Florida whose members

wear a red hat and nothing else.

For now they're just getting together and doing what they can to embarrass

their grown children. An Illinois chapter stormed an Elvis impersonator show

and tossed purple panties onto the stage.

Where it all goes after a few sisterly lunches is anybody's guess. But it

won't go unnoticed.

You can e-mail Susan Swartz at sswartz@pressdemocrat.com.