White, until my senior year, when we went to black. The white dresses were fairly identical (you could have it tailored to your style), but the black ones were whatever you wanted.

But yes, I've heard of several ADPi chapters which wear either azure blue, or azure blue or white.

We wore black with heels and pearls/gold jewelry.
Other houses on our campus--
ADPi--black dresses
Phi Mu--They wore full pink skirts that were tea length with white blouses, white (!) hose and black shoes.
Theta--They wore Jessica McClintock style drop waist dresses in mint green, pink, and then randomly there were like 10 that were navy blue. Every girl in that house hated those dresses, and they all fought over who would get the coveted navy dresses.

PS--this was in the mid 90s. Now everyone on campus wears black.

We wore (no kidding) long, mandarin necked, high waisted, sleeveless (actually, the arm holes cut in a little) slender dresses in pastel gingham. Yellow, pink, pastel blue, coral and lavender.

They were made either at home using the same Vogue pattern or by a seamstress, but many were passed down by the seniors each year. The available passdowns weren't in a color I wanted, so I made my own over the summer.

Sounds lame and a little Green Acres-esque, but they were actually very pretty and very cool looking on a hot night in Oklahoma, and the cut was flattering to almost everyone.

It was pretty typical in the day (early to mid 70's) for the pref dresses to be made from a pattern and for sororities to buy fabric by the bolt. People passed the dresses down, so houses wore the same pref dresses for several years. I wore mine for three years, and they had been used several years before that!

The move to all black for most pref dresses makes for a sophisticated look, but the flip side is that every group tends to look the same. Add a flower or candle ritual with some testimonials at each house, and it could really become a blur for the poor PNMs.

We wear black cocktail dresses. I think almost all the soroities on my campus does too.

When I went through Freshman year my soon to be chapter wore pink cocktail dresses. The idea was cute and but there were so many shades and I heard they had problems with everyone finding pink cocktail dresses so the next year it was changed.

I love the idea of the white and black dresses with the oppsite color shoes. How did you decide who wore which color?

My chapter wore winter white (not white, WINTER WHITE) dresses for I think... well definitely years, including the year I went through recruitment. The next year, my sophomore year I believe, we switched to black, which was a good call. The winter white really wasn't pretty (IMO). The white dated back to a time when we had a bit more frilly rush in the early 90s, before the houses were built. Each group would get a room in the student center and paper the entire room each night in a different way. Pi Phi had a "heavenly angel" theme on pref night and covered the ceiling in white and silver balloons and had all kinds of beautiful "heaven" stuff, and the winter white complemented that. When we went to the houses, though, they cut down on the frills (plus the frills weren't as much needed due to the beauty of the houses), and things changed. So we switched to black.

For some reason I feel like all the groups at my school wore black although I have no real reason to think that. At one time the PNMs (including my freshman year and I think at least one year after that) were told they could not wear white, black, or red dresses but had to wear other colors. That would imply that at least one group was wearing red - probably Chi-O as they were the only group with red as a color on our campus. They loosened the restrictions on the colors PNMs could wear due to complaints from PNMs & moms. I think that happened my junior year.

No group (AFAIK) at W&L wore full-on gowns. It was a cocktail dress look - although a bit more conservative/tasteful than "cocktail".

We wear black. I have no idea what the other NPC chapter on our campus wears.

We wore black with rhinestone jewelry last year and im pretty sure every chapter but Tridelta wears black (Tridelt wears long white satin dresses and no shoes). This year were pairing red jewelry with the black cocktail dresses.

Our Kappa chapters must have compared notes! We also had matching long, light blue polyester satin dresses. I think ours were all from the same pattern, made back in the days when quite a few moms still sewed!

Lion, good point! I noticed that too! That's why I liked the idea of buying the same dress from a company and just ordering it in bulk for the whole chapter. But no frills usually means that idea is out.

No shoes? :confused: Doesn't that look a little strange? What if a PNM in stilettos steps on their foot?

Way back in the day, we wore matching red dresses with a white sash. I think they now wear black and only the President wears red.

We wore black with pearl jewelry and black heels.

I would have loved to see two or three shades of blue dresses, but I think that would have caused an outcry from the rest of the chapter.

we wore black floor length gowns.

my daughters chapter wears white tea length dresses.

Early '80s
 

White dresses to the floor -- the officers wore long white gloves during the pref. ceremony.

Black with pearls.