This is your mother's Rush! What we wore 1960-1990

[carnation]

^^ to beat my younger sister to it.

AzTheta, I discovered that college/August Glamour issue once I hit college. I can remember reading about a Butler Pi Phi before I pledged. How wonderful it would have been to be named one of the Top 10!

[honeychile]

I had to get out my rush book when I wrote my Rush Thread. Quiana was high quality stuff! Other brands were PantHer, College Town, and of course, Gunne Sax!

[MUSK81]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I had to get out my rush book when I wrote my Rush Thread. Quiana was high quality stuff! Other brands were PantHer, College Town, and of course, Gunne Sax!

My pref dress was a Gunne Sax. It was a street-length cotton and velvet sundress with a matching jacket I originally bought for the Christmas dance senior year. It was perfect for pref, even if it was September. I don't remember buying anything new for rush, and I don't think anyone else did either. Our school just wasn't that competitive.

Fun fact: Miss West Virginia 1980, Pam Paugh, was an Alpha Xi and was away at the Miss America pageant during rush that year. Her sister was Miss West Virginia 1977 Patsy Paugh, an AXD at another school ... now better known as the late Patsy Ramsey, mother of JonBenet.

[33girl]

LOL PantHer!!!! I remember that well...Vicky Vaughn was another one around that time. I should just go look at the labels on Mom's clothing that I saved.

We had a structured informal rush that lasted 2 weeks, and 7 sororities. Meet the Greeks I have no clue what I wore. Same for much of the theme week, but I do remember I wore pleated capri jeans (lol) and an orange polo neck sweater to ASA's theme party.

First night of prefs I wore my HS graduation dress...blue and lavender plaid with this sort of corsety belt thing in the middle. Not really in season but it was one of the better things I had. Obvi I didn't "preplan" my rush outfits before I went back to college.

Second night of prefs I wore a pale pink tank-top dress (see the Steve Perry Oh Sherry video) with a (borrowed) dusty pink Shaker knit sweater over it. The first party of the night there were 50 sisters plus probably at least 60 rushees crammed into a dorm suite. With candles. I thought I was going to die of heat stroke. And THEN I had to go to another party. Bleeeaaahhh

Third night of prefs (this was ASA) I wore a black sweater with pink cabbage roses on it and my friend Tina's black knit skirt. (This was my fave outfit which is why I saved it for ASA. I kind of knew. )

As you can see I would have been royally screwed if I hadn't had a dorm floor of girls to borrow from - I don't think any of us made it the whole way through rush in completely our own clothes. This is just another reason I <3 deferred rush.

Pledge pickup night I wore jeans and the ubiquitous sleeveless/cap sleeve Shaker knit top.

On another note, I also remember what I wore the first day I got to campus. The aforementioned capri jeans, a rainbow striped cutout-back shirt I got in Florida, jelly shoes and every rubber Madonna bracelet I owned.

[pam713]

You all have great memories! 1983 was a long time ago and I don't remember most of what I wore for rush, but I do remember what I wore when I signed up for rush during orientation: a Calvin Klein denim skirt and a green Polo shirt, tucked in with a skinny belt and of course the collar was turned up. On my feet were a pair of Bass sandals. I was so completely unprepared for rush that I had to go out the day of Pref and buy a dress. I was so desperate that I spent more than sixty dollars on it, which was a fortune for me then.

[ellebud]

1970s......USC......First round: a pink sleevless (a la tricia nixon) knit dress from Saks. Cinched in waist...white slingback shoes with pantyhose. Hair long, straight. I do not remember anything else except for what I wore for pledging. And that, despite the fact it was probably very fashionable, would sound atrocious.

[ellebud]

I used to wait for Seventeen, and Glamour and Mademoiselle!!!! YOU HAVE THE 1969 August edition?! I envy you.

Oh, and from the "olden" days: You know how you could tell if someone was cool or not? If they showed up at school in a sundress (on the first days of school when it was sweltering) or their back to school wool outfit.

[RaggedyAnn]

1992-Since during the late eighties/early nineties we dressed for high school, I didn't have to buy anything new. I don't really remember too many of my outfits, but I know one day I wore a suit that had no collar and buttoned up the front with a skirt that was a black and white sort of tic pattern WITH hose of course. I'm sure I wore one of my many broaches with that...probably the one I had from Benneton. For Pledge to Panhellenic, I wore a blue, pink and black floral knit cotton dress with puffy sleeves. I have the picture for that one.

[preciousjeni]

Where are the pictures people??

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Where are the pictures people??

Well... I've found some pictures. I would have to scan them & then post them. Don't hold your breath (in other words, I may bump this thread in a month or so, when I get around to figuring out how to do what it is I need to do).

Idea: take the photos to the local chapter (they're always asking to see them anyway) and have an active scan them for me. They are all so technology-savvy.

[RaggedyAnn]

I don't know how to post pictures, or I would!

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

I don't know how to post pictures, or I would!

Nooo problem! You can upload them on http://photobucket.com/. After the upload, they'll provide you the completely IMG link that you can simply post right in the Reply to Thread box here.

[gee_ess]

My brain is not allowing me to recall a single 1979 rush outfit other than my oh-so-appropriate and virgin-like pref dress: floor length white dotted swiss with cap sleeves.

[NUBlue&Blue]

1981

Navy bermuda shorts and kelly green Ralph Lauren polo shirt (which had to be specially purchased at the only store in Nebraska that carried them), collar UP, no doubt, and navy blue bass sandals for open house.

White sleeveless wrinkly cotton dress with ruffle and embroidery, white espadrilles for skit and house tours.

Royal blue skirt and blouse outfit with sleeveless v-neck top with a big ruffle around the v and a ruffle on the bottom of the skirt....can't remember what shoes I wore. I think this was pref. I might be missing a day.

Navy blue and white striped short sleeved wrapdress, navy pumps for bid day, we were told to wear navy blue. Actives wore black dresses. Pictures on the lawn in dresses. Then for our party later, we wore navy shorts and our brand spanking new white Kappa Kappa Gamma SWEATSHIRTS with the sleeves pushed up. In August.

I already had the white dress and loved it. I bought the blue skirt and blouse outfit in Lincoln and went on a pilgrimage to Omaha for the RL polo shirt. I'm pretty sure I had the blue and white striped dress already, too. I know I wore it for years to work and church after college.

[barbino]

Late Seventies-- I remember one of my sisters did not pass Wardrobe Check (Yes, we had it!) for Open House one rush. We wore long dresses and it was a garden party theme. I remember the dress she had- navy blue sleeveless poly with bright flowers and a low neckline with a pointy white collar. So she was hunting down an acceptable substitute. I gave her the one I wore the first year I rushed on the other side, which I had also worn to a formal. It was white cotton pique with a bright red floral trim ruffle on the bottom, on the straps (sleeveless) and down the front vertically, with some kind of buttons.

Then I borrowed my former roomate's dress after I went shopping but could not find a Malia-type dress like she told me to last minute. The dress of hers that I wore was a long sleeveless A-line shift in a pink & green small print on a white background. It was very plain but had a large ruffle down the front. I wore it with a hot pink thin leather belt with a gold frog buckle (frogs on both sides, they buckled in the middle, remember those)? I also had a multicolored ribbon belt with large lions that fastened the same way and I wore it everywhere.

I worked at a big department store during the summer and breaks so I always had a discount when I bought my clothes. I wasn't very preppy and got teased for it -this was the south- but I always had fashionable clothes and sisters frequently borrowed from me. I remember one time telling 2 sisters that they could each borrow the same dress for a formal (I forgot) then having to decide who was going to wear it and what the other one could wear. I'll admit that I borrowed clothes, especially shoes too.

I remember being as fixated on clothes and what I was going to wear as these PNM's now seem to be. I think that it is part of life when you are young. I seemed to always be shopping then.