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

[barbino]

I haven't posted in awhile but have read the boards occasionally. Everybody going through recruitment this year seems fixated on what to wear, and what to bring for their recruitment. I have also noticed the phrase "This is not your mother's rush" and thought that it might be fun to tell the PNM's just what it was like "back in the day" so that they could see just what our rushes were like. So I'll go first--

Mid 1970's at the University of Kentucky:

Every morning I washed, dried, and fully rolled my just-below shoulder length hair. Full makeup including base and eyeshadow. Hosiery every day-- no 1970's recruitment was complete without nylons.

Perfume- Your great-grandmother's scent, "Blue Grass" by Elizabeth Arden (this was Kentucky, the Bluegrass state, after all!)

Shoes: For everything but Pref Night, caramel colored wedges with buckles and rope trim on the heel
Matching purse: caramel colored leather, hobo-style

Open House (13 Houses) -- We had 2 days where we had to visit all the houses, wearing casual skirts. I can remember 1 of the 2 days and I wore a dressy blue jean skirt trimmed in lace along with a pale blue t-shirt with a square neckline, also trimmed in cotton lace. I think I wore an ivory cotton wrap-around skirt the 2nd day.

First Round (10 houses) -- I wore an aqua-blue polyester knee length skirt that had side pockets with a white polyester gauze shirt that had art-deco style ladies all over it. I hand washed the shirt, let it dry then wore the same outfit for the second day because I was going to different houses. Polyester-yes! This was the 1970's.

Second Round (I think we could go back to 6 houses) -- I had to go shopping because I did not like anything that I brought for this. Also, we had a Saturday off and my most of my rush group hit the mall. I bought a pale rust colored dress with longish puffy sleeves and smocking on the bust. Again, it was knee length. I wore it with a rust, navy and white abstract-print scarf.

Prefs! (3 houses) -- I wore my prom dress (don't try this now). Imagine a medium yellow long dress with a square neckline trimmed in cotton eyelet, low back, empire waist with a white ribbon. The material was a polyester flocked organdy with white and green flowers and it had a huge floral border on the bottom. I wore white Pappagallo heels with it and they had round toes and round heels.

Things change ...

[barbino]

Don't Try this now:

SEC (Kentucky) recruitment as an out-of state sophomore with no recs at all. I was the first in my family to go Greek, and my best friend who was in a sorority at Ohio State did not even mention them. When I got to the dorm, my rush group and the rush counselor were talking about recs, and she said that if a house wanted you they would get a rec for you, even if it meant having you meet an alumn.

So I was at one of my favorite houses the party before Pref night, and the girl that I was talking to said, "Stay here for a minute. I want to introduce you to someone." She came back with another girl, introduced us, then left us alone. This girl started asking me about home, high school, my job. She seemed really interested in getting to know me. Finally I asked her what year she was in. There was a moment's hesitation and then she said, "I'm an alumn." We both looked at each other, and she knew that I realized where my rec was coming from. I was invited back there for Pref Night, although I put another chapter first and got my first choice.

Things have changed drastically since I went through rush because so many girls go through recruitment and the competiton in the SEC seems almost brutal now.

[MaggieXi]

I want to play! (even though my rush was in 1997).
This is right before Brittany Spears, but post Nirvana. So it was normal to wear a baby doll tee with a pair of doc martins.

Fall Meet and Greet: I think I wore a a light blue wrap skirt with big dark blue flowers print and a white top and brown sandals.

First Round: I remember my planned outfit was not going to work because it was snow/sleeting/icing outside. I think I either ended up wearing a black skirt with a gray or red ribbed turtleneck or black pants with a blue/gray button down. Either way, I know I wore black knee high boots.

Second Round: I know I wore my favorite dark green courderoy dress. It was fitted and had buttons down the front and capped short sleeves with brown knee high boots.

Pref: My prom dress. Our proms weren't that fancy, so it was ok. I was not as glitzed up as some girls who were wearing lots of sequins! My dress was black, to the knee, the straps did a weave print in the back. I wore black heels with this.

[AnchorAlumna]

One word: quiana.

[FSUZeta]

i wish i could remember all my outfits-i only remember one outfit and that was worn on the first day of ice water teas(which was 18 houses over two days). i wore a short sleeved white cotton sweater with a yellow flower applique and a yellow cotton skirt that buttoned up the front(bobbie brook, anyone?). i wore my favorite shoes which were wooden platforms with leather woven straps. i had a stylish shag haircut(ugh!)-fall 1975.

barbino-great thread idea!!

[DrPhil]

lane swerve/

I love that so many GCers are so seasoned in their GLOs. Much respect to old school.

/lane swerve

[carnation]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

One word: quiana.

Aaagghh! I think that my pref dress was made of Qiana.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i wish i could remember all my outfits-i only remember one outfit and that was worn on the first day of ice water teas(which was over two days). i wore a short sleeved white cotton sweater with a yellow flower applique and a yellow cotton skirt that buttoned up the front(bobbie brook, anyone?)

Pretty sure that I wore Bobbie Brook at some point in rush too ("the total look of Bobbie Brook"). But how on earth do y'all remember in detail what you wore every day?

[FSUZeta]

i remember that one outfit, because i had the sweater and skirt and i had yellow slacks i could wear with it-snappy! but remembering the rest of the outfits? no clue. i do know that i certainly did not stew over what to wear, nor do i think that anyone else did. i don't even know that i had anything new-after all, the people i was rushing with and meeting didn't know me, so as far as they knew every outfit was new.

carnation, do you remember any of the other brands that we wore back then? bobbie brook is the only one i can remember, but i do remember that that outfit was bobbie brook.

lol at quiana and all the other synthetics we wore.

[Shellfish]

I can't remember what clothes I wore during rush (this was late seventies), but the footwear was definitely clogs. I wore clogs every day in college, but I forget what I wore on snowy days. Oh, probably clogs.

When I had to get a white dress for ritual, it was an ivory polyester one with long sleeves, a Nehru-type collar, and a tiered skirt. That was worn all four years as well.

My hair was washed with Short and Sassy shampoo freshman year, although I was growing out my Dorothy Hamill haircut.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

carnation, do you remember any of the other brands that we wore back then? bobbie brook is the only one i can remember, but i do remember that that outfit was bobbie brook.

What was that brand that had a lot of dark-colored jumpers and little bitty print blouses? Ack! Why can't I remember? I had a ladybug-print blouse one year.

ETA: Villager! But it was very school-in-the-fall and would've been out of place to wear in a torrid Southern summer.

[FSUZeta]

dorothy hamill haircut senior year! what was i thinking???

[atrianglepi]

I only remember what I wore for two of the four rounds. The second round was called cokes and I wore a red corduroy blazer, white blouse and a tweed black/white skirt, hose(of course) and black pumps. I have a picture of this. For prefs I wore a tea length black velvet skit and a cream angora sweater with little pearls on it, hose(it was Jan after all), dressier black sling backs. I also remember coming back from prefs and finding my roomate(who was not rushing) and her entire family in our room. The only people who were supposed to be in the dorms were the girls rushing. Their presence really threw me off.

[carnation]

Did you guys wait eagerly for the August issue of Seventeen, which was double-thick and had the latest styles in it?

[SWTXBelle]

YES, Carnation!

Texas Recruitment - 1983

First round - white suit (shoulder pads!), turquoise, black and white striped blouse. Monet black and gold necklace with matching earrings. Black patent pumps and pantyhose. Wouldn't go out without pantyhose.

Second round - can't remember

Third round - Blue cotton dress - white collar, red polka dots, matching red flats. The only problem? IT WAS THE EXACT SAME DRESS AS THE GAMMA PHIS WERE WEARING - only theirs were red with blue dots. I had some pnms ask me if I was the president and that's why my dress was different.

PREF - I had a black crepe dress with a lace collar. Our pref wasn't as formal as some - I don't know if that has changed.

[AXOrushadvisor]

I only have 2 outfits that I can remember from recruitment in the Fall of 1981. The first is the outfit I wore the day before pref. Pleated white skirt with flowers on the bottom and a lavender t-shirt. The preference dress I wore was borrowed from a friend because my non Greek mother wisely told me I wouldn't need any formal wear at College! I was on a bus 2 weeks later retrieving all that formal wear I left at home.