White dresses should be outlawed.
 

Let me just say, I hate shopping for dresses anyway. Shopping for WHITE dresses is even worse. I went to at least 7 stores, and every time I said the words, "white dress", the sales lady would look at me, laugh and say, "Sorority initiation?"

I think that finding a white dress in the middle of November should guarantee activation....
I move that white dresses be outlawed for all occasions other that weddings...
(BTW, don't take any of this seriously. It's 1:30 in the am)

My mother has agreed to make me a dress since all shopping excursions were unsuccessful, but only after much pleading on my part. Her other ideas were:

Pretend to be color blind
Bleach a dress
Borrow my 5 year old cousin's flower girl dress
Wear a slip or nightgown
Wear a sheet and say, "But I thought it was a toga party!"

Bless her heart, and thank God she's making me a dress!

I'm done rambling now...

Did I even have to see a name to know who posted this?....uuhh....no. ;)

Guys, if you think she's joking, her mom really did suggest all that. :p

LOL! You freak. :p

I remember when I first pledged I dragged my (ex) boyfriend all over the mall with me so I could find a white dress. It was the end of September. Any white dresses they had left were either too expensive or too big. I finally decided on a white dress that was too big and got by pulling the extra fabric to the back of the dress and safety pinning it. I still have the dress and, fortunately, now I fit into it (I say fortunately because I actually needed to gain the extra weight). They great thing about the white dresses you buy freshman year is that you can use them for all your rituals through your senior year......the same ugly white dress.
Next, my sorority decided to make us get white shoes to go along with our dresses. Try finding those in December!

Having to find a white dress when it's not summer should be considered a form of hazing :D

My first initiation (into my local sorority) was a surprise... we only had a couple of hours' notice. It was October. We were told to wear all white or as close as possible. I had a white blouse, and I think I managed to dig up a white or light-colored skirt from among my summer clothes.

My initiation into AEPhi was in April, so some white dresses were already available.

Alpha Phi at my school wears white at pref, so between pref, pledging, and initiation, they get a lot of mileage out of their dresses :)

Don't get rid of it when you graduate!
We still wear them for initiation at national conventions.

When we were being colonized we were technically given the option-- wear white or wear black. We all decided right then and there that our chapter would never be a "wear white" chapter. I am not sure if they still do that or not-- but it saved us a great deal of headache!

When I was pledged I was told to wear white, but at least I had the choice between a dress and nice pants. I think if it wasn't for the Winner's in my city I would have been stuck!

We often had girls who wore white nightgowns. If any of you should decide to go that route, just make sure that it's not one of those see-through numbers and you should be fine! :)

On behalf of the 7th floor of Campbell Hall, a belated thank you to Sue K and her white skirt. I wish I had $1 for every time the fall I pledged that someone ran down the hall asking her to borrow it. This skirt attended rituals for ASA, AST and Delta Chi little sisters. Thankfully, it didn't disclose any secrets. :D

I agree with everyone's "finding a white dress" stress....for a while, an alum let me borrow hers. I thought she was being very sweet b/c it was the dress she bought when she was a pledge. Well, like I said earlier, she was an alum, so it was a few years old & she must have gone to track practice in the thing because the arm pits were sooooo yellow!! I wore it that night & didn't say anything b/c I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but she laughed hysterically at me. By the time of the next ritual, I did get a new dress. :)

I was at Express a few weeks ago and found lots of pure white dresses, skirts and blouses. They also had off-white stuff too.
I'm in Miami, though, so I don't know if this was everywhere.:cool:

33girl, that reminds me...my little sister's white dress was initiated into AGD, Alpha Phi, Tri-Delt, and I think DG. Too bad she didn't know any KKG or Pi Phi new members that needed to borrow dresses, or else it could have gotten into initiation at every sorority on campus that semester!

I got my white initiation dress on clearance for I think $5 because it had a big ink stain on it. A little hairspray cleared that right up! I got a lot of mileage out of my dress because I wore it for a few initiations and two Halloweens. One year I was Baby Spice (it was really short and skimpy...I wore a sweater over it for initiation) and one year I was an angel. I now have a more appropriate white outfit for initiation because I figured I should set a good example, being an advisor and all. ;)

The two pieces of initiation clothing that were the worst I've seen were when one of my sisters wore a long white t-shirt and when another wore white flip-flops because she couldn't find white shoes.

You should talk to your sisters about getting seniors and alumnae to donate their old white dresses to the chapter so that your new members don't have to scramble around trying to find white clothes in the middle of winter. My chapter started doing that this year and it's a really good idea.

33, you made me spit out my coffee on that one. :D

MTSU, I feel your pain. I would just like to add a twist from my experience. Try finding a white dress in late October in a maternity size! I am an alumna initiate and at the time I made my vows, I was nine months pregnant. Thank goodness my mother-in-law is a seamstress and she whipped one up in an afternoon. BTW, my son was born two weeks later and every once in awhile, I catch him humming an AOII tune.

My sorority was chartered in 1990, and one of our Alpha (founding) sisters passed down her 1990s Prom dress to every member of her family that has been initiated. It is pretty short and all frilly and stuff... it's hysterical. But at least that girl doesn't have to worry about finding a dress!

One of the girls in my new member class was initiated with it, and she can't wait to get a little sister so she can laugh at her in it... heehee.

I was fortunate that I had gotten a white linen dress the summer before I was initiated so I had one in my closet already! Having been an adviser I used the dress many times - and hope to use it more for conventions, possible alumnae chapter installation, etc. Proper pre-planning and sometimes just plain luck are needed for white dresses - though not many people look good in white dresses! :)

Sarah

i was lucky becasue i had to wear a white dress under my gown for graduation so I just used that dress. however, my white dress has made it to a whole lot of Phi Mu and Sigma Kappa events

Ya'lls stories are cracking me up!! I was lucky, because when I graduated from highschool, instead of wearing gowns, we have to wear white dresses (it's a school tradition going back to the late 1800's), so I already had a white linen dress and white shoes. However, I pledged in the spring, so when we were initiated, white dresses were already starting to go on sale.

lol, I had no problem with the dress, I found one on the clearance rack of Talbots. The shoes I also had no problem with, just went to payless. Unfortunatly, my heel broke this year so I needed a new pair. Luckily I had my pink ballet shoes. I turned them inside out so the white cloth part showed, took some acrylic paint and painted the pink band white and wore inside out ballet shoes during our last initiation.

We have a girl in ourpledge class that is married and 6 months pregnant. Would you believe she was the FIRST one to find a dress??
The dress my mother is making me is this plain, straight dress that will never be called cute. (It had to be very quick and easy for her to agree to make it.)
The good thing is, we can go barefoot. :)
Ya'll's stories are cracking me up!!

I remember that I wore the white dress and shoes from my high school graduation...we had white gowns, so wearing a white or light colored dress underneath was the best. I hated that damn dress though. When I graduated, I gave it to my little sister, and she passed it along. I think someone might still have it, even though I would imagine it isn't that white anymore :) Good luck MTSU!!

Just out of curiosity, what sororities require a white dress for initiation? And which is allowed to initiate a married woman?

honeychile

One of my sisters couldn't find anything so she wears her white tennis skirt and a sweater to initiatiations etc.

honeychile: KD wears white for initiation & as far as I know, don't have any rules pertaining to initiating a married woman.

honeychile- Phi Mu wears white dresses at initiation. i have no idea about initiating married women.

*edited for clarity

I didn't know any sororities had rules about not initiating married women.

AXD wears white, too.

I hating finding a white dress. I was iniatiated last fall, and had a white dress that I hated. I needed to wear white for the spring, so I just bought a new one. If you have to buy a white dress even if you hate it then wait till the spring to buy a new one... I hated it, we have to wear a white dress, white slip, white hose, and white shoes.. I had the hardest time finding white hose. For shoes, I just bought the white dyable shoes meant for weddings. Our shoes have to be closed toe too, which makes it even harder. I am so glad I have a dress, so i don't have to worry about it now.:)

I'm almost positive that Phi Mu doesn't allow married or pregnant women to initiate. This is collegiately, of couse. I'm sure the rule doesn't apply to alumna intiation.

When i was initated into alpha gam i had to wear a white dress. it was pretty hard to find, but i did it... and im glad i bought one myself as i will be wearing it for a while as my life as an agd. :c)

At my college, there were two events (one in the early fall and one in the summer) that required white dresses. You were informed about it when you received your information packet following your acceptance, so you had plenty of time to find one. (It was a tradition that had been going on for more than 100 years.) So many people started to complain about finding a white dress, that they decided to use it as an excuse to get rid of one of the traditions and they said any color dress would do for the other event. I'm still bitter.. :(

I think my mother would have come over and lectured the ritualist and new-member educator about the faux-pas in wearing white after Labor day (and before Memorial day) if they'd asked me to find a white dress in Novembember.

It cracks me up when chapters wear white on pref night too, everyone hates their dresses and complains about how "unflattering" white is. Besides, it's not easy to find a white "cocktail, non-prom" dress any time of the year!

We wear black for initiation into Tau Beta Sigma. Much easier to find!

Not allowing women who are married or pregnant join seems goofy to me.

We do allow members to go alumni as collegiates if they are pregnant or married, but we don't force it on them.

I agree! I don't see why it should make a difference.

If anyone had looked really closely at my initiation dress, they would have realized that it was off white (gasp) but really w/ the lighting and all no one could tell. One girl in my pc actually bought a white dress on clearance at target that was 3 sizes too big, left the tags on, pinned it up, then returned it the next day. While I thought it was kinda tacky to do it, I had to applaud her for her resourcefulness!!! :)

One of the perks of being in a sorority in Hawaii is being able to find a white mu`umu`u year round:

http://www.seemesmile.com/photos4/2478134a.jpg

I too was lucky to have had to wear white to my high school graduation. And then when I got married, I had my mom make me a white dress for my bridal shower. HOWEVER, after just pushing out a nine pound baby girl, I need a little bigger dress until I can lose the "baby" weight.

It's so good to know that more chapters wear weight than I had thought. It is tough to find them, but if you think you'll never wear yours again when you graduate, why not donate it to the chapter for that new initiate that might not be able to find her outfit for pledging or initiation????

oooooh i hated looking for white dresses
 

I initated last month into Alpha Phi and i am an alum initate and i hated looking for white dresses.

I am married and already have a child so whoever thinks you cannot intiate being married or have a child is silly!


I went out on a all out search to 6 different Ross's to find a white dress and i found only ONE on clearance at the last store i came across and i found white satin dyable shoes as well. My own mother was about to sew a dress for me ... it got down to the wire.

White is a horrible color to go searching for in the fall winter time.

Laura:)

Re: oooooh i hated looking for white dresses
 

I think when talking about initiating married and pregnant women we're referring to initiating at the collegiate level, not the alumnae level. sorry for the confusion.

Ha! Like I'd still be able to fit in it! :D