'No Frumpy': Cornell Sorority Forbids American Apparel Leggings, etc.
 

I'm hesitant to post this, because by no means do I want to talk poorly about any sororities our there (all college girls have moments of insanity), but this feels almost like a caricature of Greek life. It's so bananas, that I just HAVE to share. And figuring that the news section is where the least amount of non-Greeks looking to go through recruitment will see it.

http://fashionista.com/2010/01/pi_ph...php?img=1#imgs

"NO camel toe" LOL!

EVEN BETTER!!!!!!!! Regarding dresses, no "Satin. No one looks good in satin dresses unless its from Betsey Johnson or Dolce and Gabbana, you weigh less than 130 pounds, have 3 pairs of spanks on and it's New Years Eve."

LOLOLOL!

Oh we absolutely had guidelines as well, this one just seemed a bit more ridiculous and intense.

Why the pedi part of mani-pedi if she's weird about shoes and that doesn't include open toe shoes? This is not a fashionista, this is a Wardrobe Nazi! And yes, we had a Recruitment Chair who was a Wardrobe Nazi Wannabe - everyone showed her exactly what we thought of her over the top rules! In the defense of our WN, we had a couple fashion disasters at the prior recruitment - so maybe that's what this person's about.

I'd love to know what was blacked out!

Yep, I LOLed at that, too!

What kind of PC bullshit world are we living in that people are opposed to the banning of camel toe? Kidding. Her life would be way easier if they just bulk-ordered clothes.

Seriously though, I would stand by almost everything she wrote.

Welcome to being a grown up. If we are in Ithaca during the winter, we don't wear open-toed shoes. Satin doesn't look good in an obese/not-red-carpet situation. Plastic glittery hairclips were not okay post 1998/the age of 5 (I'm looking at you, Gossip Girl). Business casual, cocktail, etc.

The only thing I disagree with is her love of chunky heels.

EDIT RE THE PEDICURE: Obviously she owuldn't be able to tell. But I think, based on her attempt at a "snappy" writing style, she just likes saying "mani/pedi."

"Just saying."

Oh no I know. Looking at some of the comments on the blog though, I don't think they were all "just saying"

So I have both of my traguses pierced, do they count as being obnoxious? lol that list is all sorts of awesome.

This has been on the Huffington Post for 2 days now with over 500 mostly ignorant comments.

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen...EESE-large.jpg

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_433491.html

I think those lists are hilarious. Because I agree with the directions, for the most part, and as a recruitment advisor, I can tell you that this is the way it works at a lot of schools.
The replies on HuffPost, though, are irritating to me. I shouldn't be surprised at the comments from GDIs who don't care to understand Greek Life, but seriously, are they trying to tell me they don't wear different clothes to, say, an interview (i.e. round 1-2 of Formal Recruitment) than they would around the house or out bar hopping?!?! I don't think so. You don't want to look frumpy when you want to make a good impression, and neither do college women.:p

Hahaha I posted about this in the "what do you feel like saying right now" thread the other day. The wording on this list absolutely cracks me up..."you best have a mani/pedi when you get to ithaca" and the "no fake plastic shizzz" parts were my favorites.

And I believe the blacked out parts just had the names of women in their past pledge classes, so nothing too scandalous.

I kind of want to send this to our chapter and ask them to take it seriously. Except for the boots with dresses thing for pref. She's got to be kidding about that.
Otherwise, she's basically asking girls to look their best; it seems like there's some good advice in here.

This doesn't look out of the ordinary. My daughter is an active at a school with a deferred recruitment. Each year, the Recruitment VP issued clothing/accesseries lists before summer break. The members had to show their recruitment outfits before Thanksgiving (I suppose so they could shop when they were home). My D said there was a second approval period between T'day and Christmas Breaks for the girls who had needed to replace certain items.

This is also on Jezebel, fyi - http://jezebel.com/5454613/sorority-...yline=true&s=i

Reminds me of Jen Lancaster's recounting of her days as a "recruitment Nazi" in her undergrad Pi Phi days! (She wrote "Bitter is the New Black", "Such a Pretty Fat")

They can wear watches? That was a big No No for us.

Whoever wrote that sounds like a such a stereo-type.

Anyone who tells other people not to wear American Apparel gets a big kiss from me. And if the day has come (and it unfortunately has) when you actually have to tell people not to wear open toed shoes IN THE WINTER, then Cornell needs to raise its admission standards.

I think the girl who wrote this may be one of my favorite people on the planet right now. Not to mention the satin dress comment.

ETA: what are "huggies" earrings? All huggies makes me think of is disposable diapers.

On the next page she says not to wear them and put on a bangle instead.

I'm thinking of the list like this that a crabby mom put on here and the difference is enormous. This girl is funny as hell and none of this is over the top...just basically "don't dress tacky." It also seems like they have a lot of latitude in the items they can choose. The other one was ordering tans and other dangerous items, and really condescending.

Whaaaaaaaaa?

I think the thread was removed. It was at a large southern school and the mom was just aghast that her daughter was involved in such a group (never mind she'd been a sorority member herself). It was apparently really easy to tell what group it was for if you went to the school - plus the mom probably posted it without daughter's permission - so it was removed.

This has made national media though, so oh well.

I don't see anything wrong with this list at all...in fact, I thought she was hilarious. I agree with 33girl that it is far better than the UF list that was posted on here awhile ago...I think they were aiming for the same thing but this girl is actually sarcastically funny.

I think that anybody outside of the Greek system is going to incorrectly assume this dress code is required at all times and that is why the blogs are blowing up. This is obviously just for recruitment. I think everybody in a moderately to very competitive recruitment has received instructions similar to this, either written or verbal (or both).

The one thing I will say is that using sarcasm in writing is always dangerous because people can misinterpret it. Hell, there were some girls in my chapter who couldn't understand sarcasm even if it was spoken in a sarcastic tone! So I think some people will read this as bitchy when obviously she was going for "sassy" and humorous.

Anyways, I thought it was funny and I agree with her fashion choices, unlike the UF girl who I believe infamously wrote that anybody with big boobs should wear a tube top...

^^^yeah, I didn't read it as sarcasm at all, I just thought she was really judgemental. Like, yeah, don't wear that for rush or whatever, but it just seemed kindof snippy, but maybe now that you said that, yeah I see it, if she had a sarcastic kind of personality

A non-greek woman I work with was showing around/ sharing her Greek daughter's recruitment instructions at work a couple of years ago, and she was blowing comments way out of proportions. The mom fancies herself a big feminist and has no understanding of the realities of UGA recruitment. She apparently didn't care that she as damaging the reputation of her daughter's group for basically doing what's expected in competitive recruitments: giving guidelines about what to wear and how to wear it to maximize the positive impression your group makes.

I think there maybe something to clearly communicating expectations face to face and not giving people lists like this is reproducible format. Especially if you are going a presentation at chapter first and have dress check later, why run the risk of it getting outside the chapter?

I thought this particular linked list was pretty funny, and I thought it was refreshing to see the author acknowledge that some of the rules represented her own areas of obsession rather than universal judgments.

This is cocktail in butt ass cold NY State. I have the feeling it's more sheath dresses with sleeves that you dress up with jewelry than the teeny things that are usually "cocktail." And with those...high boots don't look bad.

They probably get both at once as a matter of course. Also, pedis are not just polishing the toes - they're also for making sure you don't have lizard feet. Lizard feet show through tights and hose.

Amen to last post. Unfortunately, some chapters have members who don't have the fashion sense to show the chapter and themselves in the best light. The goal is to dress to impress and first impressions do matter. In fact, recruitment is nothing more than one big interview.

I had the same visual. When I googled the term...apparently I got the rest of the story.

I was thinking she meant an ear cuff, but apparently a huggie is like a cuff but for pierced ears.

I love the part about makeup! You don't know how many times I have seen sorority girls with more makeup on then necessary for sorority rush! Love this! We never got a printed out list of what to wear, we were just told and then during clothing check we were told again!

I totally agree with this.

And I think you're right about the reason blogs are blowing up. AFAIK, the people who originally released the list on the internet first said that the dress code was required of PNMs (obviously not true...although some of the fashion advice would certainly still be a good idea for them, too). Then, they tried to correct themselves and say that this is what was required of the sorority members at all times (obviously, still not true). Blogs like the Huffington Post, etc., picked up on the story and re-told it as if it were required of PNMs or sorority members during everyday activities, despite the fact that that's not true and only the result of sloppy college bloggers who don't understand the greek system.

While this list is one of the most detailed I've seen, the concept is definitely not foreign - or out of place IMO. And truthfully, sometimes there are people who need that amount of detail spelled out for them.

So yeah, basically I agree with most of what people have already said :)

I legit want to date this girl, she's hilarious. My favorites:

Under "No" for eyes:
"Sultry. Its noon people. And these are girls, not laxers. No need to seduce them with caked on black eye makeup. And it anyone likes to try that its me, don't get me wrong. Just saying."

Under "No" for shoes:
"Fuck me pumps"
"Tacky/cheapo/pleather. Don't mess with me."

Absolutely! I cringe when I think of the pre-list days, when we were told to wear a black dress or a letter shirt, but nothing else. I'm a bit more irritated by this woman's writing style than the list itself. If I was told, "Don't mess with me," you can be sure that I'd wear exactly what she doesn't want to see. But y'all have probably figured out by now that I'm all about telling someone to go to hell in a way that they'll enjoy the trip.