One girl said she bought her dress at Anne Taylor (??) and she saw the flip flops that matched so se bought them. I'm willing to bet they cost more than $16. Okay, granted, I have enough sense to know better than to wear that to the white house. But given their ages and knowing where they are coming from (fellow college girls), it doesn't surprise me that they didn't think twice about it. The blue and yellow ones she bought were okay, however some girls had on some ugly chunky black behemoths that were NOT ok whatsoever. That's a no no. A nice delicate flip flop in a neutral tone? YES. a nice flip flo that at least matches your outfit? OKAY. But big chunky black behemoth flops that don't even look new that you shouldn't be wearing to the pool or to class let alone the white house? HELL NO!!

As for rush, it remains to be seen whether or not I'll wear flips, only if I buy new ones, because the ones I have now I wouldn't dare wear because they are slightly worn out and that's a no no. (I have to go shopping!)

Maybe I'm weird, but you are at the whitehouse, I don't care what your political convictions are, but you should not be in any flip flops, I don't care if Jimmy Choo made them. Flip flops are flip flops no matter the price tag. There are, to me, just places you don't wear them, pref would be one. I hate seeing people dressed up, and then putting on flip flops, if they are you traveling shoes its one thing, but don't show up to a wedding, pref or the whitehouse...

(I wouldn't really consider anything w/a heel a flip flop, even if it is that thong style. Though even with a heel they can be too casual sometimes)

FYI, I don't know if they still do this or not, but the first time I was invited to the White House, I was given a "Do's and Don'ts list", including apparel. I just think those women showed very poor common sense (or out & out rudeness, if they did get the list), and put it down to immaturity.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/...7/18492080.jpg

well, I don't know. I think it looks too casual. They look mismatched. and i don't necessarily agree with the "i wear them all the time" or "I wanted to be comfortable" attitude. If you go to a fancy formal wedding, you are expected to wear something nice, not shorts and a tank top just 'cause you think it's ok. The White House is a formal place. Flip flops were not the right choice.

Prime examples. Two girls on the left, bottom row, 2nd and 3rd in -
Both nice dresses and appropriate. However, the one with the strappy heels looks WAY nicer than the girl with the blue flip flops. Even her pearls don't offset the flip-flops. AND, these girls go to Northwestern - they HAVE other shoes than flip flops!!! :)

I can't believe those girls wore flip flops to meet the President! Why would their coaches or any other adult even let them out of the hotel with those shoes.!? Like it was said before, it's not appropriate to wear any kind of flip flop sandal, no matter the cost. I just find them cheap and trashy looking, and it doesn't matter what the outfit is. The shoes can ruin a n outfit in a second!

*small voice* I think those girls look very nice. No, I wouldn't have worn those shoes, but I also wouldn't have noticed if someone else did, as long as the rest of her outfit was dressy and tasteful, as is true of everyone in the picture.

I wore this shimmery lime green dress to prefs when I went through formal. All the girls couldn't stop talking about how unique and beautiful it was, so I say, GO FOR IT! You don't have to wear black. Wear something that screams who you are:)

Rush is coming up quickly!
 

Hey Ya'll! I will be going through rush this year and have read alot of the posts on what to wear, but I would love some suggestions per taining to what my school reccomends..

My school asks us PNMs to wear a purple or white tee school shirt the first two days (which are really the same day, but we have to many sororities to visit in just one day). No tee shirt is fancy, but I was thinking of wearing it with either super cute jeans, or a knee length denim skirt and then getting a scarf belt to make it a little cuter. I am trying to dress up a tee shirt if thats possible, so any suggestions are so much appreciated.

Next question regards shoes for the second and third day.. Could I wear cute shoes with a kitten heel so my feet don't hurt while walking?

And the last question is for pref night.. I was planning on wearing a black cocktail dress, that is a halter top.. I have read on here that halter tops are typically a very bad idea, but I believe this one is a little classier than the typical. (I seem to gravitate towards halter style dresses.. so many formal pics I am wearing a halter style formal dress, including black tye) Would it be ok as long as it looks classy, not trashy?

Thanks girls!

Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

I would still say no halter top, unless you cover your shoulders with something else.

But I like the jean skirt idea. There will be a lot of people wearing jeans that first day, so it will help you stand out a little.

And I love scarf belts. :D

I would also suggest staying away from black, as most of the ladies in the actual chapters will be wearing all black, therefore you might not stand out as much as you might want to for them to put a face to later on. I'm not sure about the halter style, just because I think it would be okay ( but I got to school that has really humid and hot weather for rush, therefore girls tend to where different things than at most schools). Just make sure it would be something you would wear in church is my suggestion, I.E. not cotton sundress style. Good Luck!

The dress doesn't show anything, regardless of if I lean forward or not.. Its not low cut, and I also have nothing that could hang out ;) Am I allowed to take a pic and post it? I don't know the bb rules regarding that type of stuff.

Back to the flip flops at the White House.......

I won't say "what were they thinking" because I'm sure they weren't.

Some of those in the front look like they went out and bough a new dress for the occasion and didn't even think about shoes and then that day just pulled out whatever they had brought along.

Regardless of how much they spent, the PERCEPTION is terrible.

I would never have heard the end of it if I had worn those shoes to the White House (or any other nice place).

It seems to me that the White House merits (at least) "church attire" which for most people is not flip flops.

The young lady with the blue and yellow dress and flip flops specifically said that she bought them at the same store together because they matched. I highly doubt this is the case for the others, at least she tried though. Sorry, they might be rich, they might be ladies, but they area a lacrosse team going to meet the president and have more important things to think about like academics, sports, and the like to really have thought about something that seemingly unimportant.

I wonder if they brought handbags (matching of course) big enough to cart in steaming piles of dog poo to leave around the white house. Sorry..can anyone tell I'm a lefty?

And honestly, I think people made too big of a deal out of this whole thing. Really now, who gives a crap? When I meet a girl at pref, I'm not checking out her shoes, I'm making eye contact. Thank god I wasn't selected based on my fashion sense...no one batted an eye when I wore my spandex unisuit, knee socks and sandles to chapter.

Haha. One of my sisters is really big on horseback riding and once she got held up at a competition and didn't have time to go home and change after it. She ended up coming to her little's initiation in full riding garb.

Since the whole flip flops at the White House came up, I had to post this picture that I'm so proud of.......the Lady Bears National Championship Basketball team with GW. I doubt they brought in steaming bags of poo, Baylor is lobbying for a George W. Bush presidential library. Anyway, I didnt' see any on the first row, that's a good sign!

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg....h__whre105.jpg

Back to the thread, I would completely stay away from flip flops.....better to be safe than sorry. Wear them between parties for comfort, but yuck. I dont' think black is so bad for pref, if you want to stick out, don't make it like a sore thumb.

Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

I found a LOT of t-shirts that looked nice this season - with ballet, boatneck, or lacy necklines, depending on what flatters you, or some of the really pretty new materials that are either ribbed or shiny. At our local May Company store, they were on sale for $6/each! I thought they looked SO much nicer than the standard t-shirt, I've been wearing some of them to work!


Back to the flip-flop-flap: What I really don't understand is, having made this fashion faux pas, why in the world did the photographer allow the incorrectly shod women IN THE FRONT ROW?!?!?!? When you contrast that photo to the one of the ladies from Baylor, it's a difference of day and night - and they're all in the same age group, so you can't claim a generational problem there!

I think the t-shirts are ones that Panhell has the PNM's purchase.

OOPS! My bad! :)

hahah well kind of ;) I guess going to a school that prides itself in foozball (heheh) would only make sense to make anyone wear their mascot when they get a chance.. It can be any purple or white shirt that says our school name or mascot.. I guess its a good thing I love football.

Re: Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

Perhaps they were the best of the lot. :eek:

Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

Sorry for starting the flip flop controversey...

Anyhow I would stay away from flip flops while you are in the houses, kitten heels are nice, and if you go with a sandaly type it will still be casusal. Heels tend to help me stand up straighter and feel more confident so that is partly where I'm coming from. If you are 6' i would find a nice flat shoe, or a miniscule heel. I personally think that flip flops can make your legs look bad, even a tiny heel has a more refined look, that is my preference though and I wouldn't cut you for having flip flops on during a casual day. Wear flip flops between houses if you can, save your feet.

(The other shoe I would avoid are those sandals with the mesh tops that look like bedroom slippers, they irritate me to not end (sorry). )

Re: Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

The kitten heels I was thinking about are brown leather sandles (kind of) that just have leather tyed in a bow on the front.. and thats pretty much it. I wouldn't wear flip flops for any day but the first two (when we are asked to wear school pride t-shirts) I agree with you completely about that heels make you stand up straighter.. If I were to wear heels, and flip flops inbetween the houses, where do I leave my flip flops when I change to go into the house?

Thanks for everyone's help!

Your recruitment counselor will hold your purses, umbrellas, bottled waters, and your flip flops for you! The recruitment counselors will be staffed outside each chapter house for the purpose of answering any questions for you and guarding your stuff! Bring a totebag and stash your flipflops, snacks and makeup in the tote. You can't bring anything into the chapter house with you (there are exceptions, but typically, your purse, phone, notepad, etc., stay outside under the trustworthy and watchful eye of your counselor!)

Re: Re: Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

I think you owe me a Wet Wipe or whatever to clean off my monitor!! ;)

Re: Re: Re: Rush is coming up quickly!
 

Just make sure your tote holds all your stuff before rush, you don't want your items falling out all over the place because the bag can't hold it all. :) You'll be fine, don't let us get you too worried. :)

man, either you had a lot of close friends or you were just Miss Panhellenic!

About the school pride day. I know my school bookstore and other stores in the area, sell a lot of cute shirts that aren't the typical t-shirt. I have cute fitted tees with a bit more girly designs. I also love the idea of the scarf belt or even a matching ribbon/scarf for the hair. I wish I could go to rush again, I loved getting dressed up, and now on the other side my clothes are chosen for me.

This is going against ALOT of what ppl have been saying here, but I know for a fact our Rho Chi's encouraged flip flops on day 1. There were too many sororities too visit and therefore way to much walking for girls to go flouncing around in high heels. If you want to err on the side of safety, those teeny heeled shoes are fine, but on day 1, you can get away with flips. Any day after that require some heel and on pref, sport your finest, you only have two houses to go to and you're sitting most of the time. Just make sure you can walk in them when needed!

when I rushed, the only kind of shoes we were wearing to open house and first round were those duck-boots...stupid Ohio winter.

The best way to figure out what to wear to rush is to ask someone at your school. If I had followed the advice on GC when I rushed, I would have looked very out of place. (I go to a school with a large, competitive rush, but it tends to be more trendy than classic.)

But anyway, if you want to know if flip-flops are ok, pick up a phone and call someone.

I think that is the best advice, my daughter is rushing at a 30,000 student university which I have been told rushing is competetive....and a friend that just graduated is taking her shopping!.....my wallet is hurting already!

Definitely not...much more likely to be a Southern/Northern thing IMHO. Texas is definitely the South when it comes to this kind of issue.

do you think this dress would be appropriate for rush? or is the neckline too low?

http://www.edressme.com/cheapsundress3.html

that dress is really cute and i think would be fine for your school. i might safety pin it where it criss-crosses in the front, unless it is already stitched. a pair of cute sandals and you are set.

This would be appropriate later in the week, when things start getting dressier. If you are worried about modestly, a loosely woven/knit shawl would be both appropriate and stylish.

that dress is cute, but again, beware of mail order! It may look cute on the model, but it may not be flattering to your body. If you can, hurry up and get it (if it's what you really want) and get alterations as needed. If you are totally flat chested and the halter front is just gaping, it is not a good dress for you! It's all about the fit on something like that

Just wanted to update if we haven't already to new PNM's-- you may very well likely need a solid black dress/shoes and solid white dress and shoes for membership. Get your whites now, while it is summer time. Sororities may require you to wear all white and/or all black for certain rituals, or to be uniform for certain things like serenades or presents.