A very retro rush - with frills

[dvs-dz]

Waaaayyyyy back in the dark ages, I went through rush.

A bit of background, while neither of my parents had been in greek organizations, my uncle and his wife had. This aunt was also a national officer of her organization (but not a major officer) and I had been raised to know this group inside and out. My father was very eager for me to join a sorority, and he certainly had his opinions about them! I think his main source of information was an article that was published in Texas Monthly about rush at UT. Mandatory reading for me. Had to recite paragraphs verbatim (not really, but almost).

So I applied to two colleges - one that had national sororites, one that had local only. Guess which one was selected?

At the time, my college had 5 sororities. Since I love Jane Austen, I'll call them:

Pride & Prejudice
Emma
Sense & Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Persuasion

Yes, I know that leaves out Northanger Abbey, but that really was one of her weaker works.

Just to show you how long ago this was, my first introduction to these sororities was when I received letters from a member of each of these groups, welcoming me and telling me a bit about the college and their group. This finally ended sometime around my junior year but it was a really nice tradition and made me feel welcome. I returned letters to each, except for Mansfield Park, who had neglected to give me her return address. I had a good correspondence going with Emma, Sense & Sensibility, and Persuasion.

And then I arrived at campus...

[dgdramadawg]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY frills!

[CZAXOTerp]

oooh- this should be fun- I want more hints as to where you went school.

Were there lawn dances?
They got rid of lawn dances on my campus before I rushed, but I remember hearing about them!

[FSUZeta]

bring on the frills!!

[dvs-dz]

I arrived on campus, and not much happened until January - we have deferred rush!

I did meet a lot of sorority women, especially my correspondents with Emma and Sense&Sensibility. But I had a great time getting to know the other freshmen on my wing. My college was a heavily greek campus, so most of them intended to rush. Interestingly enough, if there were stereotypes, no one really talked about them.

At one point in the fall, the freshmen were able to visit each chapter in their chapter room (the fraternities had houses, the sororities had chapter rooms in the main women's dorm). There were very few members of Mansfield Park, because they had just reorganized the year before - I think they had 8 members at the time.

And all semester, my aunt was writing me, sending me cartoons, and basically really rushing me for Emma.

Finally January arrived ...

[tld221]

oh this is gonna be fun... but one question:

what exactly is "frills?" i know it means over-the-top fancy rush, but what does that involve? wearing dresses and going to tea? and how far back in the dark ages are we going - i see you're writing letters () and all.

i can kinda imagine what regular rush looks like, having been through one at my school (which, noting my siggie, didnt really work out for me) and reading the recruitment threads here, but an old-school rush - i need details to set the scene.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by tld221

oh this is gonna be fun... but one question:

what exactly is "frills?" i know it means over-the-top fancy rush, but what does that involve? wearing dresses and going to tea? and how far back in the dark ages are we going - i see you're writing letters () and all.

i can kinda imagine what regular rush looks like, having been through one at my school (which, noting my siggie, didnt really work out for me) and reading the recruitment threads here, but an old-school rush - i need details to set the scene.

When my sister was an active (at the hometown university), they would give each PNM some sort of a nice token or gift at each round. For preference it was something really nice. I know she still has one of the other chapter's preference gift given to her. A porcelain "Cinderella Slipper" on a velvet pillow. Something to do with a "perfect fit" I guess. I just know that it represented Cinderella in some way. And as I recall her chapter gave her (gave out) a silver keepsake box that was lined.

There were elaborate skits, full fledge food and punch, and decorations with massive floral arrangements. I'm not sure if there was an agreed upon budget cap or not. After my sister became an active, my brothers and I (all younger than our sister) were "volunteered" to help prior to rush. (This was my Mother's chapter too - thus the forced labor.) I recall to this day stuffing tissue paper in this giant door covering thing made out of chicken wire that I think may have been a horse shoe. It was over the front door or something like that.

When I attended college years later and at a different school, they also had "frills". However, no gifts and there was "limited" outside help. (No younger siblings tied up in the basement stuffing tissue paper into a chicken wire horse shoe.) Also there was a budget cap. But from what I recall, it still allowed for a lot of "frills".

As for what they wore, I have no clue what my sister wore. However, this would have been a time when a lady rarely wore slacks for these kind of events. So my guess is that everyone was pretty much dressed up. At UK, it was more casual, but still kind of dressy.

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

I'm excited about this thread because I am OBSESSED with Jane Austen. I'm sad you skipped Northanger Abbey though, I liked it more than Mansfield Park. I have to root for Pride and Prejudice though. It's my absolute favorite.

[SWTXBelle]

I was in one of the last rushs to include "frills" at my campus. Gamma Phi Beta gave us a saucer champagne glass filled with mint pearls. I don't remember what ZTA gave me!
We had budgets - but I know one chapter drove to Tyler to pick up bouquets of roses (Tyler is a "Rose City" and you used to be able to buy a dozen small roses for $1.00) for their PNMs and yet stay under budget.
I also remember when we had a 50s theme for our skit day, and had roller skating sisters delivering little glass Coke bottles. Ah, back in the day . . .

[FSUZeta]

or the busby berkley song and dance productions on the front lawn! we practiced them so much that the sigma chis, who lived across the street, could do the routines as well as most of us!

[dukemama]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

or the busby berkley song and dance productions on the front lawn! we practiced them so much that the sigma chis, who lived across the street, could do the routines as well as most of us!

Now THAT I would have liked to see!

[NUBlue&Blue]

We lived across the street from the Sigma Nus, Sig Eps and Sig Alphs and they always used to stand out in the front lawn and make fun of our "Kappa Kappa Kappa Gamma, I'm so happy that I am a...." never failed, if we were outside singing for something there were at least 10 in front of every house "helping out".

[FSUZeta]

i chuckle about it now, but back then, we were all mortified that they would come strolling out of their house on cue, singing our song and doing our dance. of course, being boys, by the time rush rolled around, they were more interested to sit on their porch roof rating the rushees !

[dvs-dz]

Now it's January. The girls on my wing have become very close, and we sort of created our own "sorority". Since we are on 3rd West, we called ourselves "Tri Wupsilons".

Our rush began the first weekend after we returned. On Friday, we attended parties at all 5 sororities. Saturday morning, we received our invites, and we could accept 3. Sunday morning we received our pref invites, and we could accept 2. Immediately after our last pref party, we would go to the cafeteria to sign bid cards. Monday afternoon, we had to vacate our rooms so the Panhellenic members could put our bids on our beds (I'm not sure how they knew whose bed was whose, but our names were on the envelopes). At the designated time, we returned to our rooms, got our bids and would run out to the designated location of our sorority.

The party invitations were on cards provided by Panhellenic. Each card indicated the appropriate attire, which on first night ranged from cotton and heels to jeans and things, so all the rushees were changing outfits in the 15 minutes we had between parties!

I'll also tell about the rush of Marianne, my roommate, and Eleanor, another friend.

The Panhellenic reps were our group leaders. There was no disaffiliating; everyone knew who was in what sorority. The freshman RAs, however, did not participate in the rush parties, but we all knew their affiliation, too.

For the parties, our rush "date" came to take us to their party. Most were held off-campus (none were in the chapter rooms) - some at alumna homes, some at various meeting rooms around town. I think the sororities had to get a bit creative at finding venues.

Pride and Prejudice had a Friday Night at the Movies theme, where they showed slides of their activities. My rush date was a pledge (she had joined in the fall upperclass rush - initiations were usually about 3-4 months after pledging). I remember they had the cutest nametags that looked like movie clapboards. My RA was a member of P&P, and most of the Tri Wupsilons had it high on their list. Marianne's cousin was the chapter president.

Emma had a song party at an alumna's home. My rush date was another pledge, who had always said hi to me whenever she saw me the previous semester (but I was pretty embarrassed because I had forgotten her name). My aunt is an Emma, and I was already very, very familiar with their information. I met a lot of members, and was very excited to be there.

As I had mentioned before, Mansfield Park was rebuilding, so a group of us met in the dorm lobby to be taken to their party. They had an American Graffiti party, which involved writing things on paper-covered walls. There were several alums there, and I talked with one for a while. Actually, I don't think I ever talked to any of the active members, so I didn't get much of an impression from them.

Next was Sense & Sensibility. Their theme was Gold Rush, and it was like a wild west saloon. During the fall semester I had gotten to know several members and felt pretty comfortable there.

The final party was Persuasion, with a Journey Back to Childhood party. The members were dressed in pajamas and we sat on sleeping bags to talk to the members. Another pledge for my rush date, who was a bit on the quiet side. I did meet a senior I liked quite a bit. I got the impression that they were something of a more rowdy group.

[mystikchick]

Originally Posted by dvs-dz

The party invitations were on cards provided by Panhellenic. Each card indicated the appropriate attire, which on first night ranged from cotton and heels to jeans and things, so all the rushees were changing outfits in the 15 minutes we had between parties!

wait, does this mean EACH group had different requirements for appropriate clothing?!?! also, what year were you rushing (i'm also intrigued by the writing letters reference, but i love the idea, i think it's very classy)