Icky!
 

Okay, so at Officer Training, they told me that it was voted at convention that for Preference Parties, we can no longer wear black...we have to wear red, buff, green, or white dresses!!! Now personally, I think the fact that we only wear our whites for Initiation makes them more special...and while red dresses are bold, I don't think it will be very easy to find red dresses that are tasteful for Recruitment. Buff or Green dresses probably wouldn't be special enough for Preference.

How do you ladies feel about this? What are your chapters planning to wear for Preference?

This may sound embarassing, but I was at Convention and I really don't remember hearing about wearing only R,B, or G dresses for Pref. This is all news to me!

However, my chapter uses the standard white muumuu for our Pref parties so we won't be affected by this. We use the muumuu for both Pref and Initiation because #1 it's less costly and #2 they're easier to find.

Again, I'm so embarassed to not know about this...I'm wondering where I was when all of this happened at Convention!

We wore red dresses for pref. I think the idea was to be different from the 5 other sororities who all wore black. I liked the black dresses for pref though!

Leslie, you are right about trying to find a tasteful red dress for pref!

I must agree on the red--it could be difficult to find something that would look just right. What about the green--could it be hunter green? I think a dark green might not look so bad--close to black at least---although I think black still looks great!!!

Just a thought.

I was at Convention and don't remember anything about certain colors at Pref. At what Convention seminar/event was this discussed??

Something to think about..one collegiate chapter decided on the red pref dresses, but as Recruitment grew closer, some of the sisters were "concerned" that really great red dresses were hard to find, different shades of red, not everyone looks good in red, etc.

As for the other colors, there are different shades of yellow/buff and green, and sometimes black.

I know when I was in college, we were allowed to use the same pattern, and/or bolts of cloth, etc. I don't know if your college Panhellenic rules allow this. No matter the color, the same dress won't look the same on each chapter member.

BTW, the red dresses did look very good!

Wow, this is the first I've heard about this news. I think red or green dresses would be very pretty if you cut all the dresses from the same cloth.

But...how on earth would you find a buff dress? I don't think that most of our girls are really even sure what exactly what color buff is! That sounds like a catastrophe waiting to happen, LOL.

By the way, our chapter was very close in ordering all the sisters a red dress, but it was voted down! (thankfully)

Hey Les, Im thinking maybe it wasnt said at convention, but at the RTS that was held at Alpha Chapter in late spring. I'm only thinking this b/c when Maggie and Ryan (at the time our Recruitment and Member chairs) went, they came back with a list of what everyone had to wear for Recruitment in the fall (I hear its not ok to say Rush anymore) and red dresses for Pref. was on the list. Most of them got their dresses from Express,and they dresses got (my graduation one but in purple) did reveal a lil cleavage..ok alot at times) but they wore sweaters with them. Personally I liked the red, but I prefer black. It can be hard to find red shoes if you dont want to wear black ones. Its funny though cuz the LC's, advisor and Grad student wore black. I know this cuz I visited during Pref.

call me an idiot but.....
 

OK so I really do not not know what a pref party is (I can hear you laughing)
maybe we did it differently or had a different name for it at my old chapter?
anywho, as far as Black dresses go, we would wear black dresses on the last night of Rush (or recruitment) and light candles while telling our guests what AGD means to us....is this the pref party? anywho, I dont like the idea of finding a certain color, just because its murphy's law that when you NEED to wear a certain color, you CANT find one anywhere!

Yes, Preferential (Pref) is the last night of formal Rush/Recruitment.

My understanding is that the red dress idea was a "suggestion" from an LC or someother IHQ consultant type - not at Convention. The collegiates wore red dresses and the alumnae wore black. I'm not exactly sure why other than so a PNM wouldn't be confused into thinking a chapter had more collegiates than they actually did. ((The same with the rest of the Rush/Rec. parties.)

I think our Advisor told me it was stated at Convention, but I guess it's possible that the "Dress Rule" was discussed at RTS. I'm going to miss our nice black dresses! :(

The collegiates wore red dresses and the alumnae wore black.

ahh ok, well then, a good reason to be an early Alumnae! see there is always two ways to view an issue!

hey there,

Our chapter wears all black for pref and have heard nothing about changing it. We find that black is easy to find, looks really great and most girls already have black dresses that they can wear. I don't think ours will be changing any time soon.

Although, on the subject, we are looking for some new ideas for our pref party if any of you have an awesome idea your chapter does, i would love to hear it and i know all my beta gamma sisters would be grateful.

Thanks:D

To AlwaysAGD and anyone else planning on sticking to black:

I suggested that we stick with black...who was going to find out anyway, right? Then I was told that IHQ would probably be sending out LCs during recruitments to prevent that from happening. Now, this might just be a scare tactic, I don't know. Maybe they'll bring this up again at RTS in March.

Anyone from GC going to RTS?

Tibi,

Thanks for the tip! I went to check out Chadwicks of Boston, and if you go to career dresses, they had a beautiful crepe sheath with little beads on the hem. Its shown in black, but it comes in red. And the price is quite affordable!

Ok, being the new chapter and all. we have had so many visitors to the chapter (Theta Phi). Emmy (who is our Recruitment Specialist) told us that as a Fraternity we want to stear away from black because with all of the recent events, so many rushees were not want to return because it made them feel like they were at funerals. Now personally, I like the black. Again, I felt it was very classy. But, I have to follow what is given to me. We wore red dresses this past year. We gave the women the same basic rules that it must be attractive, not low cut (i have the same things you do and I don't want to see yours LOLOL), spaghetti straps are ok as long as your mid and lower backs are covered. Actually the different styles were very nice. It showed individualism yet were the same.

Hope this helps :)
Loyally,

Kate

My chapter wears cream dresses for Pref. (Perhaps to stick as close to buff as we can get). Every other sorority wears either black or red. We ALWAYS get compliments on how pretty we look. Everyone always says that we look like angels. I must admit that I love the cream dresses, and it creates a pure atmosphere for Pref night. Perhaps I'm biased against red dresses, but maybe it's the type of dress that the sorority here wears. They wear short, tight red dresses every year and it looks so tacky. (I'm sure none of our girls would wear those kind of red dresses, but every time I hear red mentioned for Pref night, I picture those tacky red dresses...ugh!)

I know this is TOTALLY off the subject, but is Theta Phi the new chapter at Tampa U?

I also do not mean to intrude, but our chapter had the debate over whether to wear dark green, pale pink, or black dresses for pref...they chose the black after all because it is just an easier color to wear. We always get our dresses ordered so they all match, so if you get red or green or buff, I'd go to David's bridal or something and order from one color and people can choose styles within that color. It is pricey though, so watch out.

Also, for the person who didn't know what pref is, I know that sometimes schools call it "serious night". We call it pref though.

Good luck with your dress choices, I am sure you'll look great!