recruitment clothes - Page 2

JMUduke · #16 07-19-2002, 10:22 AM

wow I had no idea that a big southern schools (is this a generalization? sorry!) or some big schools rush is so meticulous...our ruch chair just made sure we had a type of outfit, you know the same type of dress or whatever versus actually ordering everything for us. I guess you guys end up spending a lot of money on rush? Is that ever a problem? I myself am pretty pennyless right now, buying a new skirt for one of the rounds was pretty major for me.

wow, i sound cheap.............but i LOVE spending money on clothes..

SoExited@FSU · #17 07-19-2002, 10:51 AM

Yeah, Rush can get costly. The wardrobe comittee (which I am on) writes out a specific budget per piece, per day, per girl and hands them out at Chapter. The brands to choose from aren't exactly cheap either- this year it's Express, Abercrombie, Victoria's Secret, a tailor-made dress and custom belt- plus new shoes for every day and accessories. (Not to mention hair nails tans type stuff)

CarolinaDG · #18 07-19-2002, 10:59 AM

I can't tell you how much we pay, I don't think... DG secrecy... but I'll tell ya it's a pretty big chunk of change. And I never realized that this was just in the south... I mean, it really looks NICE walking into a room where everyone matches. One of my favorite things about rushing was walking into the ZTA room second round and all of the girls had matching capri pants on. It was really cute. And we all talked about how cute the KD and DG dresses were. It makes a good impression.

PotentialPledge · #19 07-19-2002, 11:07 AM

What happens to individuality? I bet it does look neat to see everyone dressed up the same, but it also looks like a bunch of clones. Well I am from DC, but go to school in New England and I see there is a big difference between the rush process. The sororities at my school I think they wear the same color dress during pref night. Once I was visiting my cousin that goes to UGA and I one of the sororities rush shirts said "individually unique, together complete." I agree with this slogan.

SoExited@FSU · #20 07-19-2002, 11:24 AM

We dress alike so that girls Rushing can't compare us to one another. (" IE: Well, all the girls in the KD house had those expensive dresses, but at AGD- did you see those 2 girls in the faded jeans?") and base their preferences that way...

justamom · #21 07-19-2002, 11:30 AM

Part of the reason is to help the PNMs differentiate between the houses. When you visit 10 or more, things can be confusing. Though most of the girls may not remember an individual's dress, they may recall the girls who wore pink shirts or the baby blue T's.

The sororities are competing with each other to bid their "dream list" so looking great and being remembered is imperative. Once it's over, the individuality returns full force.

JMUduke · #22 07-19-2002, 12:07 PM

but on the other hand, if one house has girls decked out in abercrombie capris and express oputfits, and then another house has girls wearing "similar" but not the same outfits, then would'nt girls be thinking, well all the girls in xyz sorority had expensive outfits that all matched perfectly vs. the xyz sorority with non-descript outfits....then choose the ones that looked cooler, or spent more money?!?! it just confuses me, i;m not trying to start an argument. our sorority is not allowed to make girls pay more for rush outfits...we tell them they should be wearing a certain outfit but we can't pick a specific brand to shop from because that goes against our by-laws...........

DWAlphaGam · #23 07-19-2002, 02:29 PM

Wow, this is all completely alien to me. We had guidelines as to what to wear each day, but we didn't make a huge deal of it if we were supposed to wear jean shorts but someone was wearing khaki shorts instead. As long as you still followed the guidelines and looked presentable, it was okay. Preference was the round with the strictest rules, but that was only that we had to wear a black dress, black hose, and black shoes. We would even point out that although we were all wearing the same basic outfit, we were all individuals and it showed in the styles we had selected. I think I would be very afraid if I walked into a room full of women in the same outfit, because I wouldn't want them to make a clone out of me if I joined. But, that's just my personal opinion based on years of no-frills rush.

FuzzieAlum · #24 07-19-2002, 03:29 PM

Yeah, we were so much more laid back. Things like ... first party, jeans, identical rush tees, brown shoes and belts. Problem was, not everyone had a sense of fashion, and we didn't have dress checks. So you get these long arguments ... I don't have brown shoes and I won't get any ... why do I have to buy a belt? ... so what if my "black" pref dress is half white ... I don't like khakis, too preppy, so I'll just show up in black pants ...

Aggh! I'm not sure I'd want us all in brand-new, identical clothes, but there has to be a happy medium. Sometimes it was hard to convince certain members that "looking your best" didn't mean "surrenduring your identity to the Borg." No, combing your hair won't make the rushees think we're desperate conformists!

CarolinaDG · #25 07-19-2002, 03:39 PM

To the person who was talking about labels (Abercrombie Capris)... it actually matters less if you're wearing the same thing. Like, for sororities who don't match or have guidelines, the "rich" sorority girls could be wearing all brand name clothes while the "poor" sorority girls are wearing Wal-Mart (exxageration, of course!). I'm not saying that we match every other sorority. There's no way to regulate that, but we do match each other. I know, though, that KD's dresses and our dresses are similar. Plain colored sun-dresses. But if KD gets brand named ones and we don't, I have no idea. And this is speaking from being a girl going through rush. Also, our first round, we don't wear our house jerseys. We wear different ones every year. Last year they were Hawaiian print. The colors of the jerseys alone seperate us. And since four of the sororities on our campus (Kappa, ADPi, KD, and DG) use the same color (blue) we do everything to make sure that we stand out, which is why we don't wear house jerseys. I mean, that way, if a girl says, "Yeah, I want to go to the sorority that wears the blue jerseys" you know that they aren't confused which one. And if we used the other DG jerseys (the red ones) then they would confuse us with Alpha Chi or Chi O. My point is, there are different ways to stand out from the other sororities, while still being unified as a sorority.

FuzzieAlum · #26 07-19-2002, 04:09 PM

What is a house jersey?

CarolinaDG · #27 07-19-2002, 04:13 PM

The standard jersey. Like, y'alls is the blue shirt with white letters (so's ADPi's), Alpha Chi's is the red shirt with green letters, Chi O's the red shirt with yellow letters, KD's is the green with white letters (though recently they've started using blue with green letters)... it's whatever shirt is your colors, and the standard jersey. I don't know, maybe you don't use jerseys like us, anyway. I know the Alpha Xi Deltas at Newberry do, though, b/c I've seen a picture.

FuzzieAlum · #28 07-19-2002, 04:39 PM

Nope, we didn't do that. We had embroidered letters, but in whatever colors anyone wanted.

Is a jersey like a baseball jersey?

Sorry, these questions must sound stupid to you! Regional differences, I guess (my school was in Ohio).

aephi alum · #29 07-19-2002, 04:55 PM

I can't believe how much money some of you must have to shell out for rush clothes!! What if a sister can't afford to buy the latest from Express or hire a seamstress to make her pref dress??

Our guidelines were a lot more laid back (medium-frills northeastern school). We were just told what types of clothes to wear, and it was up to us to pick out our own black pants, white shirts, etc., which were then approved a couple of days before rush. The only exception was rush t-shirts bought by the chapter.

We always had one event where we all wore letters - this showcased our individuality. They didn't have to be new letters, but they couldn't be obviously worn-looking.

One year, our rush chair required us all to go out and buy new Keds to wear at a couple of the parties. Try smiling for 6 hours straight when your feet are in agony!! The funny thing was that after our last party, she hobbled into the back room yelling "ow! ow! ow!" The rest of us gently reminded her that she picked them out... she was less than thrilled

KerriMarie · #30 07-19-2002, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PotentialPledge Also does having the same polish on your toes encourage sisterhood? Just wondering.

Well, maybe hanging out together changing our toenail polish everyday will improve sisterhood!

Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's all pretty silly, but since I've never been through formal rush at FSU I have no clue if we're being extra-strict this year or what - but judging by the other FSU girls on here, it sounds like we're all doing the same sort of stuff! It's a Southern school with a big greek population - you've gotta compete, and if all the XYZs are wearing cute matching outfits from Express and your sorority isn't pulled together as well, it can hurt you. It's shallow, yeah, but what can you do??