Warning
My thesis inspired by a movement of motivated women being true to themselves
"What do you want to do for your thesis?"
A question I heard numerous times last semester, and honestly, I was struggling with what I should do. I had few thoughts but I didn't have a lot actually planned. Then, when the Spring semester began I quickly had to figure out what I wanted to do for arguably the most important college project.
Then, I found it!
I narrowed my options down and asked some friends, and found out about the wonderful late poet Jenny Joseph and her poem "Warning", which goes like this:
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which 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’m 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 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 beermats 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 must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
After finding the poem my thesis is based on I found a whole community that was inspired by the poem. The red hat society "is a worldwide membership society that encourages women in their quest to get the most out of life. We support women in the pursuit of Fun, Friendship, Freedom, Fitness and the Fulfillment of lifelong dreams."
Time to start
After knowing what I wanted to do, I had to actually start doing it, but I wasnt sure what it should even look like, so I developed some style explorations before deciding where to go and from there me and my production advisor