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

[ellebud]

LionTamer: I simply had to laugh when I read your post. I too went to a school with a large (95% or more) Jewish population. We wore more trendy things..with a bit of Europe.

As I mentioned my school had until recently before my rush worn St. John suits to recruitment. I had never heard of St. John. Gucci...yes, St. John, Villager...not on the radar. Everything turned out fine. I wear St. John today, but you can always tell tourists in the neighborhood: the men are the gentlemen in madras or seersucker shorts..even when it's in the 70s! (I had to explain seersucker to my kids when they were little.)

[Amicus]

I thought I would pass this along from a woman I know who rushed back in the 1950s. Back then on her campus, rush was a "meet and greet" first round for all rushees, an invitation only event (or maybe two) at the sorority houses and then the preference night dinner.

A bit of a back story: my friend is a Catholic and this was before Vatican II. Also back then colleges asked religious preferences so the students from the same demonination would be first year roommates.

For the second round invitation events, the PH booklet for rushees suggested the women wear their "Sunday best" which back then meant conservative suit, conservative shoes, hose, hats and gloves.

When my friend's roommate, who wasn't rushing, saw the suggested dress code for the event, she turned to my friend and said "Do you plan to wear a chapel cap or a mantilla.?" My friend said that she realized that she didn't bring a hat with her to college, all she brought was some mantillas; she was planning to bring some hats backs to college with her after the Thanksgiving break

Also, back then, a lot of the sororities -- including the one she was hoping for a bid -- had a quota for Catholics and Jews or didn't accept them at all. There was no way she was going to wear a mantilla or a chapel cap. Luckily, one of the other women in the dorm had a hat that matched her suit and lent it to her.

My friend did get her bid to the sorority she wanted.

While my friend says it all so quaint today, in 1953 it was a crisis for a 17 year old on her own for the first time.