Chapter Meeting Attire

[Glitter650]

Originally Posted by wildcatfan

I am totally impressed. I have two daughters ages 19 and 17, and I'm not really sure if they OWN a pair of pantyhose!!

Yeah it's pretty funny to see everyone peel them off afterwards LOL. They even keep extra pairs in the bins with the ritual "stuff" to hand out to those who forget. LOL

[Thetagirl218]

Every Chapter meeting was a formal meeting which meant business casual.

All actives had to have their badge, and new members had their pins

I think the hardest part of the rule to enforce was the low shirts, jeans, and flip flops. Girls were sent home if they didn't meet the dress code requirements. One of my littles was one of the marshals for a time, and it was always a strict, but necessary task.

[ASUADPi]

Texas Princess- I feel you with what collegians wear nowadays. I was just at Founders Day two Saturday's ago and like 75% of the collegians were wearing strapless dresses. Now, some of then knew not to wear their pin, but you had the other half who did. I told other alums (including their advisors) that maybe the collegians needed a "fashion show" on what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate pin attire. (Plus, with my chapter recolonizing this fall, those girls will be "looking up" to the chapter so it's like "come on ladies, dress appropriately"). IMPO.

When I was in college (eons ago, LOL), appropriate pin attire was considered Sunday best and definately no jeans. But I think the definition of "Sunday best" has changed in the 10 years since I was initiated. I can only recall a couple chapter meetings where we didn't have to wear pin attire.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

When I was in college (eons ago, LOL), appropriate pin attire was considered Sunday best and definately no jeans. But I think the definition of "Sunday best" has changed in the 10 years since I was initiated. I can only recall a couple chapter meetings where we didn't have to wear pin attire.

This is something that drives me nuts...when desired attire for a meeting/event/to wear your pin is described as "something you would wear to church." I don't know about anyone else, but I have seen girls at church looking like total slobs, like they just got done slopping the hogs, or else with micro minis or low cut shirts on. Of course my rancor is for the parents that allow them to go to church looking like that but that is another rant.

We need to really get specific - stating styles, colors, and fabrics that are appropriate, not just "something you would wear to church" or "something in good taste." Those are so across the board nowadays you'd ask 20 people and get 25 answers.

[acuisla]

Originally posted by 33girl
We need to really get specific - stating styles, colors, and fabrics that are appropriate, not just "something you would wear to church" or "something in good taste." Those are so across the board nowadays you'd ask 20 people and get 25 answers.

I do get specific with my chapters. I highly recommend this as a yearly activity. I actually have a powerpoint presentation that discusses ritual attire, business attire, business casual (smart casual), and casual attire, and it comes with a "quiz" and a "what's wrong with this attire" section, so I can be sure that everyone understands. Most of the pictures are of members, but some on the quiz I pulled from public websites that had current styles, just to make sure that people could translate what I was saying into what's available today from popular stores. I usually present it at officer transition workshops so that the new officers are clued in first thing, and sometimes I even have the outgoing officers do a fashion show that includes appropriate and "near miss" attire.

I have to say, it made visits where I said "business casual" a lot easier to understand - no more jeans and sweatshirts, or jammie pants and bunny slippers when I was in a business suit.

[Xidelt]

Sometimes the collegians honestly don't know what the phrase "dress to pin" means. When I heard that some of the current members of my chapter were wearing their pins with denim skirts, t-shirts, and flip flops as they were manning an information table at the student activities fair, I realized that a page explaining appropriate pin/ritual attire might be missing from the sisterhood notebooks. So I high-tailed it up to the next chapter with plenty of copies of this page. Lo and behold, nobody knew what "dress to pin" meant and the page explaining appropriate pin attire had been missing from the sisterhood notebooks for quite awhile! I passed out the missing page, explained what "dress to pin" meant, provided some examples, and hope that the sisters can present themselves in a more professional light in the future.

[bevinpiphi]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

I told other alums (including their advisors) that maybe the collegians needed a "fashion show" on what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate pin attire.

Our VP Event Planning did this this semester! She's in charge of etiquette, and shares the "what's appropriate for chapter" job with our VP Fraternity Development. At Exec council the night before, she told each of what to wear for chapter, going from completely appropriate, to almost appropriate, to not appropriate, to completely not appropriate. She then had the girls in the chapter point out what was wrong with each outfit: Cleavage, skirt too short, spaghetti straps, birkenstocks, flip flops, etc. We don't go so far as having our girls wear hose, though...

[Silmanarmo]

We have formal bi-weekly meetings. Which are very formal in attire -> business i.e. dress pants, formal shoes etc. And then our bi-weekly informal meetings we wear what ever we want jeans & flip-flops

[tld221]

We've gone through the gamut of dress codes in our chapter. Before I was a member, my sorors said for a while it was completely business attire, but then over time, attendance declined because who wants to wear hose and a skirt suit for a meeting that probably would go over the time alloted? and then the meeting locations definitely didnt match the attire - community centers and sorors' homes. Then there were "fines" for not dressing appropriate and all sorts of mess...

then the attire was changed to casual. people started coming in jeans, sweats... all sorts of stuff that really isnt appropriate for any kind of meeting. the demeanor of the meetings changed with the attire, meetings got shorter and nothing got done.

which led to month-long debates on making the attire business-casual, which as mentioned above, you'll get a different answer from each person as to what that means. we eventually settled on "smart business casual" which in my head meant "if a man met me on the spur of the moment for a date, i'd be OK with what i was wearing." or "if i had to speak on behalf of my organization in 10 minutes, i could just do a once-over in the mirror and go."

so if for you it meant jeans, sneakers and a sweater, fine. if it means a blazer, pants and heels, go for it. a sundress and sandals? great! as long as its in good taste and doesnt make SGRho look bad, do it. our chapter has grown a lot since the days of business attire, and have changed our location so we have more exposure to the public than we wouldve than, say, someone's home or at a community center.

we also have a chapter blazer so i suppose that's always "chapter meeting attire." but i'm clearly not going to wear it with cropped sweats and a tank top.

the only caveat in our chapter meeting attire is to wear neutral/sorority colors. so one day of the month, certain colors stay in the closet. now does everyone stick to this? of course not, but that's the precedent that was set when i became a member of that chapter so i follow it.