what is the color of your pref dresses?
 

what is the color of your pref dresses?

In all honesty, even though it was only about two years ago... I cant remember. But I am guessing that I wore black. I know for Pref going through AXiD I wore Khakis cuz I didnt know better. UM rush= Fashion savy to the max ;)

I'm asking cause it's rumored (?) that all of AlphaGam pref dresses are supposed to be red, buff, or green.

Ohhh you mean for when WE hold pref night. I thought you meant what we wore as rushees going thru. Duh! :p

I believe that it might be a requirement soon that you were Red for pref night. When our Recruitment Chair and New Member chair came back from TLC, they informed us that IHQ wanted girls to wear Red.

Well from what I have heard-- the new colors are suppose to be red, buff or green--just to set ourselves apart from all the black or white. But I have also heard that not all chapters will be doing this--and some will continue with the black dresses.;)

My honest opinion is why would you want a bunch of woman all wearing red. Unless you order the fabric and have the dresses made--the red will NEVER match.

-Wendi

I know my chapter used to wear black at pref...but I also heard that we are pushing more towards white dresses or red/buff/green. Black sometimes has the effect of being too funeral-y.

And again I ask, where on earth would you find a buff dress? ;)

Well my question is this new red/buff/green pref dresses a MANDATORY thing set my IHQ recently.

I'd actually prefer black but if forced, I suppose I'd go with red.

Our current Recruitment Chair was told that IHQ said that chapters could slowly phase out the black (ie: wear black but have red and yellow corsages the first year).

i remember last year that was a big thing. we decided on the black dresses for a couple of reasons. the fact that it looks weird with colors other than black to not have everybody match. and second. all of the other chapters on campus that didn't wear black - people thought they were weird. ah well though.

marissa

Here are my thoughts on the whole red, buff, and geen dresses. Red is a very strong color. I think that it may slightly intimidate the PNMs when they come. Buff would be dificult and I think it would be kinda janky. Yellow just doesn't look good on some people.....I'm talking about myself. :) And green I guess I could see maybe working, but at the same time like squirrely girl said the girls would really think that green was weird. Plus with all these colors, not everyone is going to have the same shade. Some girls are going to look faded and some are going to look too bright. It's just not going to look good. For initiation it's one thing for people to not look the best in the whole world because it's just your sisters that see it. For recruitment you're trying to look nice so these girls will like you and you will feel comfortable around them. I'm not sure if IHQ is making a good decision on this one. I understand where they're coming from, but to go to any of these colors it would require having a standard dress or people would have to check colors before they bought them to make sure that they match.

Oh and I really don't want to wear white either because that just makes me whiter than I already am. :o

Great topic!
 

Hello! Well...this is definitely a topic that I have strong feelings about. I am part of the VST and know why the decision was made for Alpha Gamma Delta. I will give you some information - feel free to PM me if you would like more details.

First, I come from a very successful AGD chapter and we wore white dresses for pref. It was a wonderful way to reuse those white dresses. :-) It was absolutely beautiful...lights dimmed, white lights. It was perfect and I would not have changed it. My collegiate chapter was always at about 100% return on pref so it never hurt us.

Next, the reason why the decision was made to change the color for pref was due to studies we did on past recruitment guests and members. There are continous comments on how guests feel when they walk into a room filled with women dressed in black. Again, lights may be dimmed and there may be soft music. Close your eyes and picture this...where do you picture yourself? Most people would say it was like a funeral - most times thought as a sad event. This is not what we want our guests to feel. In fact, I know one sister who just lost a family member prior to recruitment. When she entered the room with women in black she immediately started to cry. It was a horrible experience. Thus the thought of bringing other colors into the experience. White, green, red or buff are encouraged. I know buff sounds odd and often has not been the color of choice. But you would be amazed on how wonderful white, green or red is.

If any of you attended the ACTs this last year, we showed a picture of a pref event with the women in red. WOW!!! The reaction from the chapters, guests, etc was amazing. If you would like to see the picture and how it can work - PM me and I will email you the picture. Dress colors do not need to be exact...just in the same family.

I am sorry about the length of this message...I could go on and on about the benefits of changing the color.

Give it some thought!
:D

Delta Sigma has always worn white (our famous white muumuus) for preference.

I still remember when I attended preference as a rush guest. The event was so bright, beautiful.... and the girls serenading us.... seemed so... angelic.... still gives me chicken skin.

I guess if IHQ made us all wear red we would.... but somehow I just don't see the event having the same effect.... more devillish :) teehee

I see a lot of people shooting down "buff," but you could consider "buff" to be "cream" and that would look very good...somewhat angelic! http://www.plaudersmilies.de/AZZANGEL.gif

Here's my 2 cents...

I'm in favor of black dresses simply because it's looks classy. It's hard to find white dresses that are appropriate for initiation, so our chapter tends to throw on whatever white clothing we have. It's fine when it's just US, but preference is our last impression for the PNM's, and we want to look our absolute best. I don't think that 50 girls in black dresses looks depressing, just dressy and classy. I also think it would look really nice with red and buff corsages. Besides, there's only one shade of black, so even though the styles of dresses are different, we all still look uniform. How many shades of red and green are out there (I'm not even going to think that a buff dress exists :) )? I guess IHQ said that the many different shades were to reflect the many different personalities of the chapter. If we're all wearing different shades of red, I'm sorry, it's going to look gross. I don't think this color change is a good idea at all. Also, just about everybody looks good in black. A lot of people dont look good in red or green. Or white (especially when you're as pale as I am!!). Again, I'm all about the black dresses with red and buff corsages.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now...

LIEP,
Holly

Eeven though I dont see the problem with black, but can see the point IHQ is making, when I went down to help AB out with rush, they had on the red dresses for Pref...and they actually looked really cute. Of course they didnt all have on the same thing, but the shades of red surprisingly were the same. Many got the same dress from Express.

Im guessing for a Buff dress you'd have to hit stores like JCrew, Ann Taylor (Loft), and the Limited.

I've always thought that the reason why Delta Sigma Hawaii's muumuus went over so well is because they are all the same style (there are variations based on cut but they all are within the same family). I've seen other chapter's photos, and honestly all the different styles are why it doesn't look right (to me anyway). I think chapters should have dresses made for the "official"-let's-impress stuff (especially if you're using a color other than black/white), it'll make the group look more cohesive (and elite) than a mishmosh of whatever people have handy in their closets.

Just my thoughts....

LIEP,
Amy

I've seen a few pictures of chapters wearing red and it looks *awesome*! I come from a chapter where we wore black, and the other sororities wore black, too. In fact, that's a pretty popular choice for most groups to wear during preference. I think the red is more memorable, cheery, and positive! That would definitely stand out in my mind more than a group all in black.

The issue of the different colors of red wasn't even a problem in the pictures that I saw - it looked so classy and sophisticated! Some were long, some were short, some were sparkly, some were matte. It looked great.

Even just sheath dresses, slightly below the knee in all red would look great. And those could be made for not a lot of money...

I think it's worth giving the color issue a thought... white, red, buff or green represent our Fraternity colors and symbols. Why wear black when that's not our color? We want our potential new members to get to know us, and to identify with our symbols... wearing our colors at Preference, and incorporating them into the other rounds of recruitment is a perfect way to do that.

Just my $.02! :)

White is okay!
 

If you are wearing white you can continue to wear white, you do not have chose another color.

As for when to make the change, the annoucement of the color changes was done at Convention in Denver 1999. So 3 years later there should be a change at the collegiate chapter level.

As for white dresses and the complaint they do not look good - I do have a hard time believing that as I have seen it look beautiful in a number of cases. My chapter did it and we were from a small college town with no malls. We found dresses that were appropriate and if you do dress checks then you do no thave to worry about what the women will look like.

If you are a collegiate member, take the time to think about the dresses and the feeling you want for your PNMs. If you are an alumnae, please help with the transition.
Thank you!

I've never seen a buff dress when I worked at JCrew.

I like the idea of buff, it can have an elegant look esp when alot of candles are lit. But has anyone considered having women wear red some green and some buff? That might be too busy but I think buff would look great!

Red seems too busy too. I liked black, which we wore b/c it was more formal and it looked great with pearls. It also made our badges stand out, but I can understand the changes.

White dresses
 

Chadwicks/Jessica London has cute red and white dresses. I didn't check out green, lol.
www.chadwicks.com


Last year, my chapter wore red dresses of all diff types. They got positive responses back.

I went ahead and ordered a new white dress last week. It has a white sweater with it, but I also bought a black/white sweater at Kohl's as an extra incentive to wear it, lol.

As they said at ACT in Charlotte, go ahead and order a white dress during the summer when they are easier to find..cause you aren't gonna find them too plentiful in Fall/Winter selections. ;) :D

well if there was a change....
 

My chapter's first pref was in January 2000 and that would have been the time for IHQ to tell us about the need to wear a different color. We just wear our white dresses and I think it looks great. I think with the white lights, candles, balloons, and green ivy, the white tables and so on the atmoshere is heavenly. Sure we look like a group of pre-nuns (one big virgin party) but it is very striking.

As to what the other groups wear... the Phi Mu's wear black, SK wear white and KD's wear Green. I know that my chapter is most likly to try red this year, but I am a big supporter of the white. I will just have to wait and see!

Re: White is okay!
 

Thanx for the post to inform me white is okay... that's great to know. I do agree, that I think white looks very nice in number of cases. I'm from a very small college, too, and white looks really good in my opinion.

At my chapter, we have always worn black. I know that IHQ has asked us to wear red or green, but KD wears green, Sigma Kappa wears purple and all of the other chapters wear black. I guess old habits die hard. I don't know if our chapter is changing for next yera or not (I just went alum!) but all of the rushees make fun of the colored dresses (even though KD has made quota for forever and is one of their national's strongest chapters!) so I don't know. We have a few red heads who are like "NO RED! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" and noone could agree on a shade of green "Pastels? Too pasty! Hunter green!?! To hunterish!!! Pale green! UGH Looks like vomit!"
So needless to say.. haha!!! As for the white-
Whoo with my chapter, Initiation is the only time any of us pull out our white dresses. my mother made me two white dresses and I donated both to the chapter when I left for girls that get initiated in the future to use. I don't think it would look very pretty with girls wearing white dresses they have had since they were freshman (and have since put on twenty pounds or whatever). But that is just my opinion for my chapter. I prefer them wear red, if any of those girls, except for the black.
Another thing, the only people who have every complained at our school about the black dresses are VST, LCS or members form IHQ! HAHA>>

I think we wore black, but then my senior year we all wore "jewel tones". The jewel tones worked out really well and everyone looked so nice! A lot of women wore red and green, but we also had a lot bright blues, yellows, purple, etc. The colors had to be "bright" and not faded and we had dress checks.

It was very bright and cheerful and a little less overwhelming then walking into a room with everyone wearing red. I personally liked it a lot better (and I'm sure other did too) than black or white dresses. I'd have to agree that the black dresses were too much like a funeral and kind of scary. We never wore white dresses during recruitment; made everyone look really washed out and weren't very flattering. And we also had pref parties after Labor Day so I can only imagine the fights between women whether or not we should wear white shoes!

Just an FYI - there are VST, LC and IHQ members on this board. I know we can get on members nerves but we are just trying to help.

Red dress pictures...
 

Here are the red dress pictures:

http://www.seemesmile.com/photos4/2269084a.jpg

http://www.seemesmile.com/photos4/2269085a.jpg

http://www.seemesmile.com/photos4/2269086a.jpg


I apologize for not returning PMs in the last couple days. I had to put my dog to sleep this morning. The second one in 3 months.

CLARIFICATION!
 

I guess I have confused everyone! VST/IHQ has not told you to change from white because white is OKAY!!!

OPTIONS for dress color:
White, Red, Buff, Green

Sorry for the confusion, it has been a rough week.:(

Those look *great*! Makes me wish we'd done red dresses when I was a collegian. I think it looks awesome - thanks for posting those, DeltaBetaAGD! :) Sorry to hear about your dog... that must have been so hard.

hey, thanx for posting those pictures! :D Red does look really good.

also, sorry about your dog...

Off topic, but, I just wanted to tell Wendi how sorry I am about her doggie. Ironically, I recieved a phone call earlier this week from my parents, and they told me that our family dog had to be put to sleep. :( Zoe was a part of our family for 13 years, and although she was old and sick...it doesn't make the decision any easier.

She was a faithful and loving companion, and no one could have had a better dog. I know you feel the same way about your dog, and I just wanted to tell you that I know how you're feeling right now, and I'm truly sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog! :( That is so sad.

I wasnt trying to offend with my comment, I was laughing because we are always told how "funeral like" black is and how everyone hates it, yet the only people to every complain on my campus have been VST, LCs and IHQ members. I am not trying to say that they don't have a right to say that, or to ask us to change, I am merely jesting at how on my campus there has never been a problem with the black as far as rush guests and members goes.

Please don't think I meant to offend, and believe me I know that there are members of IHQ, VST and even LCs that regulary read these boards, so I would never say anything to intentionally offend any of them. I am sorry if it what I said was misconstrude. I don't get annoyed with the comments we receive from them, they are always trying to be helpful. Personally I see where the entire black/mortuary thing could be, and I don't think something classy like red or green dresses would be bad. I just pray my chapter never uses white, or it will look like granny from the hillbillies made our preference decisions!!
Heehee!
Again, I apologize if I offended.
Sarah

I wanted to add that red looks wonderful....as long as everyone has the RIGHT color of red....lol. I'm dead serious, there should be a certain shade of red ALONG with standards of dress. I've seen very *cough* unbecoming dresses that were RED but also not too flattering.

Well, that's the only thing that can potentially be "wrong" with the black dresses. Someone CLAIMS to have personally KNOWN someone who started crying during a pref because it reminded her of a funeral. I think I've heard this a few times around the block...I'm beginning to think it's an urban legend.

Nina is right about that...the red should be rich and deep, not an orangy-tomato-kind-of-red. Yucky! ;)

lol, I've also seen some hooker type of dresses-- along with MISMATCHED pieces...as if they found each piece off the clearance rack and they didn't care if they matched...as long as it was RED. :eek:

I still think that the chapters should have an "official" outfit to wear at Preference/Initiation Dinner/Representing AGD events. Whether it be a suit or dress, I think uniformity has it's place in these type of events. People know exactly what to wear and you know how you'll represent the sorority.

LIEP, Amy

We didn't have a choice