Unfortunately I can't relate

[KappaKittyCat]

Whirlwind, I totally agree with your bewilderment. I'm from a small, Midwestern school where Greek life isn't a big deal at all, and reading some of these threads, especially the ones from the huge, Southern schools (especially Ole Miss, UGA, UTA, LSU, and UF) just boggles my mind.

One thing I've found is that when I'm nervous about something that's far away, I do what I can to give myself the feeling that I'm in control of some aspect of the situation. Fretting about clothes is a way for PNMs to get excited and channel their nervous energy into an area in which they have total control. By posting on here they're not getting approval for their attire necessarily, but sharing their nervous energy. And after all, everybody likes clothes!

Finally, it's not that PNMs can't wear houses' colors, but that they know that being overly obnoxious about one particular house's colors or symbols can weird the sisters out. Kappa's colors, Sky & Sea, are very popular. I'm not saying that rushees can't wear blue to any of our parties, but if a girl showed up to every party wearing Sky & Sea, I'd start to wonder, and I'm sure the other houses on campus would, too. Similarly, I'd wonder if a PNM showed up to all of our parties wearing another chapter's colors. This becomes a big issue especially for preference round. I mean, if a girl were preffing Kappa and Chi-O, and she showed up wearing Cardinal & Straw, the Kappas might think that she wanted to go Chi-O and put her lower on their bid list. Even if she weren't actually preffing Chi-O, the chapters that she is preffing don't know that. However, if she showed up just wearing red, the Kappas would probably think that she liked red. Take Theta, for example; their colors are Gold & Black. Lots of girls wear black to pref, sometimes even black with gold jewelry, but we don't automatically assume that they want to go Theta. So the combinations are really more important than the colors themselves.

I'm curious as to whether that final issue is one that's necessarily unique to NPC. I mean, what would the reaction be at a DSQ intake event, for example, if a rushee came in decked out in Crimson & Creme? Or Pink & Green at AKA? Would any of our D9 ladies care to weigh in on this?