This month's new hot handbag is having your skin look like a handbag.

GOD. Get with the times!

My thoughts exactly.

ITA.

Very. Suggesting a spray tan (SUGGESTING, not requiring...they don't work on everyone and can be expensive) is one thing. Real tanning should be DISCOURAGED.

My chapter used to require red polish on toenails and clear polish on (clean and groomed) fingernails, and natural looking make up and hair (though on our campus a pink streak or something similar in the hair wouldn't be all that unusual and I doubt anyone would ever be asked to change it for recruitment). We did do matching outfits for parties and on my campus many of the sororities wear a certain color when they go out together to stand out, so that was common as well. We had dress checks for our pref and open house dresses. I felt all of that was fair...it drives me crazy to see what some of them look like during recruitment now. I applaud minimal control of appearance. But our campus holds recruitment about 2 weeks after school beings and in my opinion sorority women should at least show up to class with clean hair, clothing, and faces and show up to parties looking their personal best, whatever that might require. Anything less is laziness in my eyes.

I do suggest a refresher course on what clothing is appropriate when, and how to dress different body types correctly (clothing should fit, and that does not mean should-be-shrink-wrapped). And a reminder that being clean and well groomed is essential...not just for recruitment, but for life. Appearance matters. Observe what is the norm on your campus and go from there. It's NOT too much to ask that everyone put their best foot forward during recruitment. But try to come up with your guidelines as far ahead of time as possible, especially if certain outfits are required so that no one grumbles about scrambling around at the last minute to meet the requirements.

Lane swerve here...I think it is interesting to read about Recruitment dress stories.

Shortly after dinosaurs roamed the earth...of the days during RUSH as it was called, we all wore red shirts. No biggie. However, we had this alum who would pass around the same tube of red lipstick right before the day started. BRIGHT RED. FIRE ENGINE RED with not much blue tone to it. I think it was Clinique. I told her that it would not look good on my fair skin. Her response was that it would match the red shirt. Yah right. Not all red lipsticks are equal on all skin tones no matter what you are wearing. Well...we all sucked it up because it was only for a day, it was Rush and it was an alum...and we had no choice. Think Lipstick Nazi.

...End of lane swerve.

That is awful!

As an adviser, I'd have them bring everything for the outfit, including foundations. If a girl tried on her outfit and needed Spanx, I would pull her aside and gently tell her. Better coming from me than a sister whose a size double zero on a fat day :)

We were given a detailed list and slide show of examples right before the end of the spring semester so we could spend the summer shopping for our recruitment attire. There was also mail correspondence to update us over the summer. (Our school is no frills, so we couldn't order bulk clothing.)

We were also clearly told what color belts/shoes, to wear clear nail polish, no watches, etc. There would be a dress check the week before recruitment, with the adviser and recruitment committee approving each member's clothing for each round.

I do recall that our recruitment adviser was the one who played the "bad guy" in case a member's clothing was not in line with what we were supposed to be wearing. I think this kept the heat off the recruitment officer in the chapter to keep the peace.

OP, I would suggest you check in with your adviser and the Alumnae Director for recruitment for your region. They will have some good tips on how to manage this process, and there may be a uniform sorority policy to be followed.

The more I think about this, the more I think that you really just have to get to someone's real reason for not complying. Is she:

1) Clueless?
2) Broke?
3) Intentionally defiant?

Each of those needs to be dealt with in a very different way.

Did you read the rest of her posts? They have 17 members total. I doubt very much if they have a "rush committee" or a full functioning advisory board.

Even though our school can be very matchy-matchy with outfits for formal recruitment (or so I've heard, never having gone through it myself) we kind of went the opposite direction for our recruitment last year. For spring we tried color coordination (pink, white, or black tops with jean bottoms, for semi-structured winter recruitment) but for fall we did away with all of that.

The reasoning? We discussed it as a chapter and decided that one of our strengths as a chapter is our diversity. As such, we simply mimicked the dress of the PNMs (tshirt and jeans for open houses, nice top and jeans for first rounds, nice dress or skirt and top for second rounds, and a black dress for preference night). We didn't do any color combinations and our only rule was that it looked GOOD. Our recruitment VP checked our outfits two weeks before to see if they were acceptable, and because we had no restrictions of colors or styles, everyone did look good.

At the time (and even now) I kind of wish we did some sort of color combination matching, even a very loose one (i.e. purple, grey, or black) but the argument was made that that hardly looks coordinated anyway and besides, we never match in real life so why would we for recruitment? It's a hard call, but I feel that for us, looking our very best (although not looking unified via clothing) and keeping our individual styles was more important to us as a chapter than doing the matching thing.

Last year my sorority contacted a local manicure salon in spring. They agreed to close their shop to the public on a specific day in August and offer discounts if we could guarantee at least X number of clients. We passed around a time slot sign up list for those who were interested. With the discount prices, the ability to car pool, and that it would be only sisters in the shop, more than the mnimum signed up. It ended up being a fun sisterhood event and the shop made money. Win-win all around.

I like stuff like this. Make it fun, and relaxing right before recruitment.

Which reminds me, my JC is having a manicure event and I need to send in my RSVP.

That's a fun idea that I am going to suggest to my actives. My sorority doesn't participate in recruitment (although we do have information sessions with a particular dress code), but I think doing a "mani-pedi day" would be a nice treat for new sisters right after initiation...and maybe they can invite alumnae :):D