What do you wear for prefs?
 

what does your chapter wear for prefs?

Black is classy, and even if it's all different colors of black, you still look unified. The 'diversity' will come from the different styles of dresses that the members choose.

Last year the chapter I advise wanted to wear pastels for pref. It was an absolute...well, let's just say that it didn't reflect well on the chapter, because everyone had a different idea of what 'pastel' meant. This year we were adamant about black dresses, and every one of the actives in the chapter had on a black dress -- each different, each emphasizing the member's individuality, but showing that the chapter was a unified whole. People coming through recruitment (and pref) all commented on how "classy" our chapter was, and it was this elegance that led to the most successful recruitment the chapter has seen in years.

Whatever you decide to wear, make sure that you do dress checks, and decide early on if you'll wear pants or dresses. Personally, I vote for dresses because it's just more elegant, IMO.

We tried almost all of the above, and I've also heard of other ideas! We did formals (any color), all black (anything), all black (dresses), and white dresses.

One VERY rich chapter has each sister decide what type of dress she wants, and the correponding pattern. She then buys the amount of materal (made exclusively for the chapter!) at a somewhat discounted price, and either uses one of several designated seamstresses, or finds one of her own. Frankly, I think this is MUCH too fussy, but I've seen the photos from this chapter's Pref and all I have to say is Oh.my.gosh!!!!!!

Another chapter orders 4-5 styles of dresses in black, styles and color lots that coordinate nicely, yet flatter each sister. I like this idea a LOT better, as there are enough styles to flatter but few enough to let the PNMs realize that they are coordinated.

Years ago....when I was membership director....YEARS AND YEARS ago...

coordinated outfits were for every party.

Information...we all wore solid pastel colored dresses. Very rainbow like...ok, rainbow sherbert, but it looked pretty decent. I still remember the pink dress I had (it was great, showed off when I was young and perky :)

Theme...it was a Beach boys medley, so we all wore white pants and hawaiian print shirts. Very festive, I love the photos.

Pref...very elegant of course. Everyone had on formal length white dresses. I think I still have mine hanging in a closet somewhere. I bought a "Gunny Sack by Jessica" (how is that for dating myself!)

From what I understand, the chapter paid what they considered a reasonable amount for the white dress (this was if you used one of their seamstresses/alumnae), but if you wanted something different, you could get more or less material, and have it made yourself. I know that one sister used something like 15 yards of material, for some really belle-type dress - REALLY expensive! I would really have to look for the photo - it was worthwhile, but this would only work if you had a fairly rich chapter and a large alumnae association who knew great seamstresses! I'll look for it, though.

My problem with wearing black was more because most of the other sororities wear black for Pref, not PNMs. The PNMs usually warned not to wear black for Pref, unless it will somehow stand out.

We had an almost impossible time matching azure blues for other parties - everyone's sense of what's "azure blue" or "wine" or even "navy" is different and it can look pretty bad. Also, my chapter does Recruitment after Labor Day, so white wouldn't work - which leaves black.

If you use the colors, I'd suggest that you give everyone an exact swatch of material that you expect them to match, and have a dress rehearsal, just to be sure.

We wear black, but we all have the same dress...it looks classy and simple.

http://www.brentroad.com/photos/00335017.jpg

We have done the "wear any dress in black" thing before and it's great to show diversity...but girls focused sooo much on what to wear that they lost the meaning behind the night. The focus should be on the PNM and our sisterhood...not what one is wearing.

When I was in my chapter, we had to wear dresses that were all black. We didn't just pick one dress, everyone had to come up with their own (basically buy one or borrow one). I'm fairly certain the girls from my chapter still do that. All dresses had to be checked by the Rush Chair and approved--which I know made some girls a little upset. But honestly, the last thing you need is a girl with a dress that's way too revealing or one that somehow stands out too much--it takes away from chapter unity.
"Little black dresses" are easy to find--especially this time of year. Plus, they're versitile; once you buy one you can wear it 1,000 times. I, in fact, still have mine and still wear it; and have about 40 different ways of wearing it; it still is the dress I've gotten the most use out of.
I know over the years they've told rushees they can wear black as long as it's not a black dress...but again, it's been a while for me, so I don't know if that's still the case. I say go with black. It's easy to find. It makes everyone look good. And it's something that people can borrow or buy and get good use out of. Then again...you girls might get the 'you bit off of us' from my chapter too (I know Wine&SilverBlue goes to my alma mater).
Pick what you think is best--but from my experience, being as uniformed as possible looks the best.

Good luck!

When I went through recruitment, the girls in Pi Phi wore various white or light blue dresses/skirt shirt combos and many had a wine colored accent, such as a belt. I remember that their pref rounds were so unique and that color combination stood out from all of the other chapters who wore the same color. They thing is, it was all the same shade of light blue (close to a silvery blue) and the ribbon some wore was all the same shade of wine. I think if you can pull this off it looks absolutely fantastic, and while it was not the reason I chose Pi Phi, it definitely left a lasting impression on me!

When I went through recruitment we were wearing our "whites" for pref. Let me just say that it wasn't a pretty sight. Not everyone had a true "white" dress and some of them were past their prime. After that year we decided to go to a more uniform look with lavander dresses.

We picked out 3 patterens that we could choose from, each one flattered a different body type, and found some beautiful lavander fabric. You could go with a seamstress that we had found in town or go on your own. We bought lots of fabric so that girls in the future could have them made too. I think they looked really nice. We all matched yet were unique due to the different styles. The cost wasn't too bad either. I think it was $65 for everything, fabric and getting it made, which is about what it would cost for a normal dress anyways.

Later when people graduated they just passed thier dresses down to newer girls who went and had them altered.

From what I hear, my chapter has now changed to black suits. Not sure if they are skirts or pants. But they took the dresses they had and made shirts to wear under their jackets.

Best of luck!!

Back in my old timer days, we wore our Initiation whites at Pref. We all had to have a tea length or long white dress anyway, so we just had our one white dress for the whole time we were in school. Mine was a Laura Ashley and had a HUGE skirt.. just shy of requiring a hoop, although that's what was in style back then. Now my chapter wears all black skirts/dresses, but so does every chapter on our campus. We're recommending that they switch to red for next year. If they have a year advance notice, it shouldn't be too hard to get prepared. AGD is encouraging red overall because it is one of our colors and will set us apart from all the black dresses.

Dee

We could wear any black dress (or skirt/blouse). 4 out of 5 sororities wore black, the fifth wore white. When I was a rho chi, I did informational pop-ins during pref (y'know, reminding PNMs where to go to sign their pref cards, things like that), and I must say I was impressed when I walked into the room of the sorority that wore white... they really stood out.

One year, our rush chair was adamant that we had to wear dresses or skirts. Guess who showed up in a black pant suit. :rolleyes:

Edit: When I was a PX, we were asked to dress up on pref night, and we were told that we could wear anything EXCEPT black or white.

If memory serves me right, it was not an NPC "rule." (If your local Panhellenic Council made a "rule" that no like outfits were permitted, then yes, it was a local rule.)

The 1991 NPC Rush Resolution "discouraged" elaborate costuming and purchase of special rush outfits. It was up to the individual campuses to interpret & enforce this.

My chapter wears black cocktail dresses. I think every chapter on campus does except:

DZ makes white gown-like things for their girls that they wear with a garland of roses and no shoes...very interesting effect.

Kappa allows their girls to wear all-white pin attire.

I believe AGD wears red dresses.

We wore all white, usually a knee length dress. We were the only ones on campus to wear white, most did black so we thought it was nice to be different and goes with our pref decor in the house (Pi Phi Heaven). I always loved it in white personally.

I've seen it done in all black as well with a different color scarf for each pledge class which I thought was cute.

What do you do about a member who hates the "chosen" outfit or can't afford it? Do they not get to participate in pref or is there so much pressure to conform that no one has gone against this rule?

Our panhellenic also adopted the rule and it is also strictly enforeced here. That's why I kind of doin't get the whole dress alike thing.

That sounds so pretty! I love the scarf idea!

When I was in undergrad, I remember that we all wore black dresses, Alpha Gam wore buff dresses all in the same pattern, Phi Mu wore hot pink dresses all in the same pattern, and I'm not sure about other chapters. I always thought our dresses looked fine, but I heard that two years ago they changed it to where you couldn't wear anything strapless or with spaghetti straps because it was too "revealing". Whatever. Girls should know what looks good on them, and I only really remember one or two problems with Pref attire and they were quickly taken care of.

Mother of God! That sounds like a TON of planning. Lord help me if we ever had to wear strapless dresses...I'd look like a cross dressing line backer (all those years of swimming sure do give you broad shoulders and a lack of hips/bum). I *think* the rules for my chapter are red and black dressy clothing running to the skirt/top line, but pants and shirt are fine. No jeans. Then again, it may be blue/white, but red and black tend to be our more formal wear. I wouldn't know... I didn't go to any pref. parties :(. Now I'm a rho chi and I *still* won't get to know what happens at my own chapter final party!!! That's nutso. But as PNM's, we were told that the chapter will dictate what sort of atire is appropriate. The rush booklet seemed to hint at nicer dress wear, longer skirts, not clubwear. One girl borrowed my favorite sari skirt...it looked fantastic on her and was appropriate for the chapter party she was going to. I would love it if my chapter members wore sari skirts/dresses for final party...it would be very feminine yet still colorful, and saris are a sign of womanhood .

We wear black dresses, around knee lenght, black shoes and a strand of pearls :)

Another thing to take into consideration is WHEN your Recruitment period is. If you rush in the winter, none of y'all will have the slightest bit of a tan, and y'all could look pretty washed out in white.

As for someone not liking it, there will ALWAYS be someone who doesn't like what's chosen. We once had a composite done with all of us wearing azure blue sweaters with white shirt underneath, and we looked like a soccer team. In protest, many of us wrote soccer positions in the space that was for officers! (It was ignored, but very cathartic!)

Prefs = black cocktail dresses for the most part. I remember one year, we all wore black "dressy", and it was too much leeway for some folks, and people ended up wearing black jeans, next to a girl in a black prom gown! If your chapter is on a campus where semi-dressy is ok for pref, I'd do something with your colors. Wine and blue aren't they? They look good together. :) I like the sash thing someone said.

for our prefs we have to wear a nice black outfit and our badge but no other jewlrey. this fall we tried to be a little bit different and had a red ribbon around our wrists. some of the other groups wore black or white but one really stood out by wearing all red dresses to theirs and they looked really nice and impressed all the pnms.

I just happened to see a photo of an AOTT chapter's pref (actually, the ladies posed just prior to the parties), and they were totally striking, all in red!

I'd be one of the ones to scream bloody murder if I had to wear red, but I have to say, they look lovely!!

We have to have a sleeved black dress (or sleeveless with a black cardigan) and black closed-toe shoes. Last year, we had to have black hose; this year we went with nude. Most girls keep theirs about knee-length. I have a black silk 2-piece ensemble that's a knee-length skirt with a 3/4-length top. Overall though, it's pretty conservative in dress. After all, the best advice for dressing is if you're unsure, err on the conservative side.

We also do a dress walk during pre-recruitment to make sure everyone's clothes look ok (not too tight/short/etc.), especially for pref. Several sisters have had to go out and find black dresses because the ones they had were too casual (too much white piping on the edges and such).

Lots of AOPi and AGD chapters wear red now which is nice.

the only bad point about white in January is that unless most girls are going someplace sunny for break they will look seriously pale in white!

We wear black cocktail dresses.

At my school, the no-tan thing wouldn't have been a problem - they all live in the tanning beds!

I was surprised to hear that not every chapter does this! I think it's one of the few ways of making sure that no one embarrasses the chapter!

Before we did it, we once had a sister wear a skirt so short, if she had sat down, her navel would have shown! From then on, we had Preview Night!

We do dress check for every round of rush as well as for our formals. That's just how it is down South.

And for our prefs, we wear black cocktail dresses-- no strapless or spaghetti strap-- black closed-toe dress shoes, nude hose, pearls, our badge, and we follow the 3-piece jewelry rule-- no more than 3 pieces of jewelry on, including your pearls.

I also thought that Gamma Phi encouraged all of its chapters to wear black at pref, but who knows.

Classy, ladies, classy. ;)

my chapter as well as the chapter i've helped out with here wear red dresses. my understanding is that AGD's IHQ is pushing for all chapters to wear red dresses to get away from the black dresses that almost everyone else wears.

Hijack alert...

I've never heard of this rule. So does that mean if you're wearing your pearls and, say, an engagement ring, you can only wear one earring? :p (j/k, I assume a pair of earrings counts as one item, not two)

This is a great idea, actually. Otherwise you run the risk of someone showing up with big flashy rings on every finger, three earrings in each ear, and a dozen gold chains!

Do engagement and wedding rings count? If someone wears both, are they one item or two? I've always believed you're not fully dressed without earrings, and I'd hate to have to pick between my earrings and my wedding ring...

I would consider a wedding and engagement ring the same thing as a pair of earrings.

I think the 3 (or 4, including watch or bracelet) piece rule is good in the professional world as well.

I'm sure your chapter has already decided on this, but I think black dresses with silver blue scarves would look very classy and striking! I especially like the idea that the chapter would be responsible for the scarves and passed on each year.

Our chapter wore black dresses, it was up to us as to what style. I still believe they do that.

Alpha Gams and AOIIs at ISU also wear red for prefs. DZs used to wear these funky green dresses that were passed down each year, but I don't know if they do that anymore.

Yes, a pair of earrings counts as one item. I forgot to add that we had everyone wear pearl studs this year as well. So it was pearl studs, pearl necklace and one other piece of jewelry allowed-- wedding rings and engagement rings excepted. We rarely have engaged sisters at that time of the year anyway.

Oh, and we NEVER let anyone wear a watch during Recruitment, save our Rush chair. That way no one constantly looks at their watch during parties.

Cosign.

The idea is not to look refined, not like a cheap "jewelry store" in heels!

For our last formal rush, we wore black dress pants with white tops, but this time, I think we're gonna dress in all black--cocktail dresses, dress suits, etc.

We are required to wear black formal dresses with pearls only. It actually makes us look quite classy. Since the pnms are required to wear cocktail dresses, it makes us stand out a little more, making the party seem a little more upscale.