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

[Jobellesis]

I have no idea what I wore to rush all those years ago except braces. That I can remember. I think I wore slacks one or two nights and maybe sundresses the other days.

Rush was the beginning of October, and I had already managed to gain 10 pounds on Snickers in the 6 weeks I had been away from home. (I was homesick and Snickers were very comforting.) I didn't have a lot of clothes in the first place and I remember it was tough finding something to wear after gaining those pounds. I had a frugal mother, bless her sweet heart and a big shopping trip was out of the question. Besides, how would I get to town? Only a few people had cars at school. Most of us didn't even have tvs.

So, during MTSU rush in 1975, it must have seemed that a 12 year old boy was trying to join a sorority. That's how I must have looked. I had no fashion sense, very short hair, I was a little plump from the snicker diet, and to top it all off, there were those braces. Thankfully, the sisters saw something in me that wasn't based on appearance. I'm still amazed that those great girls chose me to be their sister.

[MUSK81]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlum

OK, time to fess up. I am SO old....you were not allowed to wear pants on campus on weekdays unless you had a raincoat on over them.

(By the time I graduated we were all wearing bell bottoms and going braless and spending the night with boys in the dorms)

I am so old that we still had 19 houses at Florida State - 10 ice waters one day and 9 the next. I am so old that the dorms were not yet air conditioned - in Florida! And you could NOT skip any of the parties. They had tear sheets you had to hand in at every house and heaven forbid you didn't turn yours in somewhere - you probably would have been disqualified.

I am so old that they told you that if you asked to use the bathroom it meant you didn't want to be invited back. After 8 glasses of ice water, I had a really tough decision to make. There was a girl in the Theta house who I had known from GIRL SCOUTS when we were little, and I always thought she didn't like me anyway, so I had nothing to lose. I made the decision. Lo and behold, they asked me back anyway.

I wore Villager dresses with full slips underneath, Weejun loafers, carried a monogrammed John Meyer purse, and wore a circle pin at the collar notch with my initials engraved for the ice water parties.

For skit parties I wore my Villager suit and Pappagallo low heels with a matching purse, and for third round (Information?) parties I wore a green Bobbie Brooks dress and Bernardos with a woven straw Aigner purse.

Prefs were black dresses and heels. I still have my white dress I wore to pledging and initiation. It's packed away with that stupid Girl Scout uniform. Memories!

Nylons were worn with EVERY outfit.

My hair was done in a center part flip that flopped in the heat. No foundation, but a little eyeliner and some lip gloss. Everyone in Florida has a tan in September, so we didn't really need too much makeup.

It was deadly hot, but back then not all places were air conditioned, so we were somewhat used to it.

I can tell you that everyone on my hall rushed and all but two pledged. That is what you did back then. I think that there was more of a drastic change in my four years than at any other time in history. I wore a suit to freshman homecoming with gloves, heels, and a giant mum, but by the time I was a senior, I wore Jesus sandals and a pant suit.

A girl who lived across the street from me pledged Tri-Sigma in '66 and I remember her dressing a lot like you described when she was in college. She had beautiful black hair that she wore in a flip with bangs a la Marlo Thomas in "That Girl" and drove a red convertible with a white top ... I wanted to be her when I grew up!

[FSUZeta]

pappagallo shops were the best! one is still in business in mountain brook,al., but i have never been in it. i should, the next time i am in birmingham.

anchoralum-i am about ten years behind you. the dorm rooms were still not air conditioned my freshman year-only the common rooms, but the sorority houses all were-thank goodness!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

pappagallo shops were the best! one is still in business in mountain brook,al., but i have never been in it. i should, the next time i am in birmingham.

anchoralum-i am about ten years behind you. the dorm rooms were still not air conditioned my freshman year-only the common rooms, but the sorority houses all were-thank goodness!

Ha...in 1993, LSU still had some non-airconditioned dorms. I remember going to Tiger day my senior year and coming home all excited to live in this beautiful dorm with 10 foot tall wooden doors and wooden furniture in huge rooms....but no air conditioning. My mom laughed at me when I insisted that it was not hot. She reminded me that it was just April. August in Baton Rouge would be a completely different story! I didn't end up going to LSU after all, but she broke my heart.

[AUAZD2001]

Reading this thread has got me thinking about what I wore in 2001 at Auburn. I wasn't much in to fasion (still not, really), so I just wore what I already had in my closet.

Round 1, Ice Water Teas. 15 chapters over 2 days.
Day 1 (8 parties)

Lavender and baby blue striped sleeveless sweater and white capris pants.

Day 2 (7 parties)

Hot pink, short sleeved, fitted cotton shirt and black capris pants.

I can't remember what shoes I wore. But I remember they were cute, but uncomfortable, so I wore comfy flip-flops between parties. I don't remember any other PNMs doing this. My roomate didn't either, and she had the NASIEST blisters by skit day!

Round 2, Philanthropy
Day 3 (10? parties)

Panhellenic T-shirt (Navy Blue) and khaki shorts and runing shoes and tube socks.

Round 3, Skit
Day 4 (5 parties)

Pink print chiffon sundress cut on the bias with diagonal hem and spagetti straps. 2 inch, off-white, satin strappy sandals.

Round 5, Pref
Day 5 (3 parties)

This one, looking back, probably wan't a very good choice. I think I may have committed a HUGH fasion faux pas. You know those mix-and-match evening gowns where you buy the top and bottom seperately? I found this black satin top with a 3 inch white satin border at the top and white spagetti straps. The top was ok, and fit really nicely on me. But I wore it with a black cotton-blend stretch pencil skirt. Looking back I probably shouldn't have mixed fabrics like that! The good news is it was pref, so the lights were dimmed. I'm sure my hostess didn't notice.

[AZTheta]

AnchorAlum and carnation, is there room in the car for one more? sounds like I fit somewhere in there, and, going through California rush, saw some incredible wild times and changes.

One thing for sure - we did NOT wear pants to recruitment freshman year, but that certainly changed by senior year. So many changes in the four years I was at University.

[ellebud]

I had a cousin who is about 3 or 4 years older than I am. When she started college they had "hours". Yep, curfews.

We in SoCal were SO chic. My high school did away with the dress code (although they tried to renew it when my daughter was there, the older one) when I was a senior. It was so stupid....suddenly we could wear slacks (which covered us up), but we always wore micro minis. I cringe everytime I realize that we must have put on one heck of a show: walking upstairs wearing the Carnaby street style minis...with lace underpants.

No need for sex ed.

But then I got to college. I heard that just a few years prior to my arrival rushees wore St. John knit suits with white gloves. In Los Angeles...in August...and in those years no airconditioning....definitely the Pasadena/San Marino presence.

[AnchorAlumna]

Re: Pappagallo
I'd never heard of these shoes until I started college, and there was a store right next to the dorm. WOW! I loved the shoes, but they were SO expensive...$35 back when you could buy a good pair of leather shoes for $10 or $15. BUT...they had great sales, and with a 6.5 foot, I could buy one or two pairs.
When my mom died, I found a pair I guess I had bought for her on sale - a short of shaggy red velour with 1" heels and a rhinestone-studded buckle. Totally NOT my mother! But she kept them all these years. Too bad they're not my size.
There are several Pappagallo shops around the country. They're not a chain...I'm guessing they kept the name after the shoes quit being made.

[ellebud]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Re: Pappagallo
I'd never heard of these shoes until I started college, and there was a store right next to the dorm. WOW! I loved the shoes, but they were SO expensive...$35 back when you could buy a good pair of leather shoes for $10 or $15. BUT...they had great sales, and with a 6.5 foot, I could buy one or two pairs.
When my mom died, I found a pair I guess I had bought for her on sale - a short of shaggy red velour with 1" heels and a rhinestone-studded buckle. Totally NOT my mother! But she kept them all these years. Too bad they're not my size.
There are several Pappagallo shops around the country. They're not a chain...I'm guessing they kept the name after the shoes quit being made.

So...I teared up when I read that sentence about your mom. When my mom died I found a white handbag that I bought for her: she kept the card in it.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by ellebud

So...I teared up when I read that sentence about your mom. When my mom died I found a white handbag that I bought for her: she kept the card in it.

This is a total downer on the thread but my dad and I went through my mom's "drawer" last weekend. In it were my graduation announcements, for both high school and college, pictures of us, programs from various musicals/high school activities, and every card and school project I ever made for her.

/end sad mom hijack. On with the thread!

[FSUZeta]

i loved the shoes...before i had children i wore a 6.5 narrow shoe. it was hard to find that size, but pappagallo and aigner were always brands that i could find that size in. now my foot is a 7 narrow, and you would think that it would be a little easier to find, but not so much.

[carnation]

LOL about the feet getting bigger after pregnancies, it's so true. Do y'all remember that Pappagallo had a line aimed at middle schoolers called Miss Pappagallo? We adored it, especially the year that everyone was wearing Mary Janes.

[DaffyKD]

At sometime in the past I wrote about why I went through rush in the very early '70's. I have no recollection of any outfit I wore except for the first day. Since I only went through rush to move out of the house a week early, and knew no house would extend me a bid since I was such a geek and unpopular in HS, what I wore was not going to make any difference as far as I was concerned. I actually wore lederhosen that I had gotten a few weeks earlier when I was in Europe as a HS graduation gift. Of the 10 houses on campus, amazingly, 7 actually invited me back the next day (I had a full party list the entire week). Imagine what that did for my ego and confidence. After that I actually wore cute clothes! I was convinced that those invites were a mistake and I would be told by my rush counselor, "oh sorry, but you were not invited back to any house." To this day, I am still tell my sisters I am still waiting to hear that I was dropped that first day.

DaffyKD

[AOIIalum]

I went through COB in 1983 and I'm quite sure I wore a pink button down, khaki walking shorts and either penny loafers or topsiders.

For rush on the "other side" in mid-August, I think for 1st round we wore a white skirt and shoes with a colored polo shirt (shirt colors assigned, thank you!) 2nd and 3rd nights were costumes so it varied depending on theme and Pref were matching red floor length taffeta formals with a big white sash. Dress checks, makeup checks, jewelry checks, you name it, it was approved before rush. Oh yes, it was definitely the 80s!

[Benzgirl]

Flash back to the early 80s. Formal "Rush" in mid-September. Very few houses with A/C since Ohio is supposed to be cold.

Round 1 - 18 houses in 1 day. I wore Liz Claiborne Khaki Bermuda shorts, a yellow Ralph Lauren polo and brown Pappagallo flats. I think I had an argile sweater over my shoulders. I screamed of "preppy".

Round 2 - I don't remember, but I attended about 10 houses.

Round 3 - I can't remember the number of houses (maybe 6), but I remember they were over 2 nights. I wore suits, which was not typical. One was a raw silk teal suit and the other was an off-white heavier material I do remember the white suit was hot.

Pref - 3 houses on 1 night. I had this dress with shiny material (some type of rayon) that had diagonal strips in black, red and blue. It had a tie belt and puffy sleeves. I think I wore black sheer hose and black pumps.

My hair was in a bi-level cut with "side burns"