For Formal Recruitment:
Day One (Saturday) - Open Houses: Our recruitment chair just changed the house 'uniform' that we've had for several years and I'm really excited. It has always been a wine colored top and gray bottoms, but that was getting out of hand - it seems nobody really knows what the color 'wine' is
really supposed to be! Anyway, the new outfit is - white, long sleeve, collared button-down shirt; black dress pants (no cargo pockets, may have a cuff), and black close-toed shoes. In addition, we are provided with a wine or blue scarf to wear as a little belt thing. Although this isn't usually my style, I think it's going to be way cute.
Day Two (Sunday) - Skit Day: Everyone wears their shirt from Fall pick-up with jeans. It's a tee shirt, so it's cold in January, but we suck it up. This past year, for example, pick-up was in September and our shirts had the Pepsi logo on them, but said "Pi Phi" instead. Everyone was in the skit, so we all changed eventually, but when welcoming the girls and escorting them out, we all looked unified.
Day Three (Monday) - Formal Desserts: Black dress. Period. With nude colored nylons and shoes that match your dress. And our pins.
I think our recruitment chair is going to be a little more "regulatory" about this, because people have gotten slackedy in the past year - wearing navy or gray, having stripes on their dress, etc.
Day Three (Tuesday) - Pref. Parties: Also black dresses, with nude nylons and shoes that match. Again, we're not too strict about it, as long as it's plain black, classy, and flattering. We ask that it not be a long dress, but cocktail length, so we have some regularity.
Pick-Up (a few hours after Pref.): Pick-up shirts and jeans.... and coats, hats, gloves because we stand outside of Central Halll waiting for our girls for nearly an hour (we are a bit overzealous)! We get the shirts that night - the recruitment chairman picks them out and nobody else has seen them, so it's super exciting.
For Informal Rectuitment:
Day One (Sunday) - Open Houses: Same uniform we wear during formal recruitment.
Day Two (Wednesday) - Progressive Dinners: Black dresses, similar to formal desserts during formal recruitment.
Pick-Up (Friday): Again, pick up shirts with jeans, or shorts if it's warm.
Also during informal we have several "coke dates", usually on Monday and Tuesday, to invite the girls to hang out with us. For these, we are just asked to wear something Pi Phi, like a letter sweatshirt with jeans or shorts. We're pretty informal like that.
I don't believe our PanHel has any rules against matching outfits; however, I don't think any house has ever required their members to purchase a certain top form a certain store. I'm sure that if one house started doing it, the rest would, also, and PanHel probably wouldn't have a problem.