Initiation Clothing
 

Disclaimer: I am not asking anyone to tell their organization's secrets. The answer to my question is one that could be answered by a non-initiated member. :)

When your organization told you to show up for initiation, what were you told to wear? What made me think of this question is a post AUAZD2001 made in the Polyvore Meets Panhellenic thread where she showed a (really snazzy) sample initiation outfit complete with accessories and makeup. My first thought was, "Other people are allowed to wear makeup for initiation???"

We were told to wear all white. This included the soles of our shoes and any stitching or buttons! No level of formality was stipulated; dress, skirt, pants, whatever...just so it was all white. Our faces were to be free of makeup and no jewelry was allowed except for engagement rings and wedding rings.

Anyone else?

We were told white, dress or skirt- no pants. Jewelry should be limited to simple earrings if you must, and no makeup or nailpolish. Embellishments, embroidery, buttons and... everything had to be stark white as well. We were not as strict with shoes, though. We were told white, and if they were flat sandals, a wood/leather sole was acceptable as long as it was a neutral color.

I think we tried to be relaxed because we also initiate people in seasons where procuring stark whites is near impossible, and sometimes we don't give them a whole lot of warning for when they need to have them by :-/

We generally didn't bother with shoes, until a CC happened to be there for initiation, found out, and freaked out about it. Then everyone went to payless and bought crappy pairs of shoes, and it was, in my opinion, much worse than just going barefoot.

I think we're a tad bit lenient for this reason as well.

We were told to wear white and nice white shoes; no flip flops allowed, they had to be dressy. I think almost everyone wore a dress or skirt, although you could wear pants or capris. There was a girl who always showed up in a cream colored dress and it annoyed the crap out of me (I can be a tad bit anal, lol) I guess they let it slide though?

We were allowed to wear make up and jewelery, but if I remember correctly, we were told to keep it toned down and natural.

no makeup or jewelry(except for our badge), pure white dress(not off white, cream, ecru, etc.), white shoes, white underwear. any embellishment on the dress had to be white. had to be a dress or a skirt and blouse.

Again, us locals do things a bit different.

As a pledge, we were just told to dress "as befits the occasion", which we all kind of interpreted as dress clothes. I wore a pair of (ugly and probably ill fitting) trousers and a button down shirt. Looking back on it I wish I would have dressed up.

As an active, it was dressing in our colors. I always had a dress/shirt combo but found a perfect dress in the last few months of my senior year that I wore to my alumni initiation.

When I was initiated into my local, our initiation was a surprise. We were called to a meeting where we were told that our initiation would be taking place that night. We were to wear "all white (or as close as possible)", and told to go to our dorms and change and meet at X location at Y time. Nothing was said about makeup and jewelry, but it went without saying that we had to wear our pledge rings.

When I was initiated into AEPhi, we were told to wear white. A dress, a skirt and blouse, or pants and a blouse were all acceptable. Shoes had to be white. Makeup and jewelry were acceptable as long as it wasn't over the top.

We were told all white but pants were OK, until my senior year I think. I don't think any of us would have even thought of wearing open toed shoes, or going w/out pantyhose if we were in a skirt, since most of the time the weather we were wearing the whites in was rainy or snowy and we had to walk to where initiation was being held (i.e. in a classroom). Makeup and jewelry were fine, I can't remember anyone ever saying anything about someone wearing too much makeup. Then again we would't have been the chapter on campus w/ that problem. LOL

Learn something new every day! We are provided with our ritual apparel by our chapter. Everything is taken care of "in house".

We were told "all white" and attire that would be "badge appropriate" (which we had already covered in our pledge training) and that the "all white included shoes and underwear" and to bring a pair of white socks. No jewelry or makeup.

These days I have a "ritual" section in my closet that has a white dress, white skirt, two white tops (one short sleeved, one long sleeved), and a white cardigan. That stuff is only for ritual stuff. I actually do not own white shoes other than a pair of sandals so I'm usually quick to slip my shoes off and wear socks. ;-)

I wish all groups would do this. It would be a heck of a lot easier.

Probably - but you have to arrive more than 2 hours before!

I participated in an installation and we were told to wear white. This was very different than what we wore back in my collegiate days, probably similar to what honeychile is describing. I must say I don't know if policy changed, the fact that my chapter is very old (100 years old next year!) and we wore original initiation garb, or if installations are different than regular initiations. Besides, our initiations were done in the middle of the night with about 82 things that are now considered hazing, so I know at least part of it has changed.

Too bad we can't share stories - I've got one or two funny ones!

We are also provided with everything we need, though color of undergarments is suggested.

In coaching the new members now, we tell them no jewelry that makes too much noise or could be otherwise distracting. The notion of noisy jewelry always makes me giggle.

Apparently, you were never in the presence of my grandmother and her charm bracelet.

Our initiation team's pink and green catsuits are provided but everyone else is on their own.

For SAI, we were told all white. No specifications of dress/skirt/pants--it didn't matter as long as it was all white. We were told to only wear our pledge pins and no other jewelry (unless you were engaged, then you could wear the engagement ring). We were also told that shoes didn't matter, but that we had to wear all white socks (including the lack of the pink line across the toes). I just borrowed the dress my sister wore for her AGD initiation.

For Phi Sig, we were told to wear all black from head to toe. Simple enough.

For AGD, there wasn't much discussion about the dress I needed to wear because I knew I was wearing my sister's dress again. :) Because of my difficulties with walking, the chapter allowed me to wear white flats instead of the required heels, but the shoes did have to be all white. Again, no jewelry.

We were provided slippers. I've never seen that at any other chapter. I sometimes wonder what happened to those ugly things when our chapter closed.

When did we get those? I didn't have them! Just white socks. Our clothing is also provided.

Yep! So much easier.

I can't get my head around the thought of women in beautiful white dresses...and then socks. I would think bare feet would be nicer (if a tad unhygenic) if you don't want to wear shoes for whatever reason.

Re the distracting jewelry, there was a member of XYZ at my campus whose VERY huge hoop earrings were her signature (we referred to her as The XYZ With The Earrings). I hope she didn't wear them for initiation or the poor pledges would have probably thought they had to jump through them before they took the oath or something.

Reading 33's post, I can't help but think that most of us can remember more than one funny Initiation story!

I think it is no coincidence that none of my sisters have said anything on this thread. :)



(Off to the Halloween stores to stock up on Catwoman costumes).

This is the first I've ever heard of heels being a requirement.

Sometimes, chapters add their own nuances, I think. For example, my initiating chapter also told the girls to wear no make-up and do very little to their hair, but upon reading the new Alpha Experience materials, I found out that initiates can wear make-up and do their hair!......Running off to look at the Alpha Experience again.

We were told to wear white dresses and white dress shoes. We could wear any jewelry, but it should be subtle and only have pearls, emeralds, or diamonds (or CZ) for gemstones. We were also told that we could wear make up, but any nail polish should be kept nude.

My chapter must be unusual--we (both actives and NM's) were/are told to wear black. Skirts and dresses only.

With over a hundred chapters, I can see how nuances develop.

10 years ago I attended the International Convention in Atlanta and we had an impromptu Ritual Q&A with Deedee Evans, then the Ritual Chair. She helped clear up some stuff about all things Ritual. It was a HUGE help. Many times things are done because "that's the way it's always been done." We felt a lot better going back to chapter with the correct information.

Wow, I am amazed that so many other sororities (and apparently a chapter of my own) are not allowed to wear makeup. Never occured to me that it wouldn't be allowed. Hell, I'd prefer if more members DID wear it...because that means they took some time to look nice before Initiation instead of rolling out of bed hungover...

Participants (initiates plus those with a part in the ceremony) are to wear pure all white dress and shoes, and the only jewelry that is permitted is pearl jewelry plus engagement/wedding rings if applicable. All others have the option of a top and skirt, and other minimal, simple jewelry. Specific color of underwear isn't mentioned, but it is not supposed to be showing, so I guess it is implied that it should match your skin. Hose are not required, though we do allow nude hose. Almost no one wears them and I can't recall a time where I saw someone in my chapter wear white hose. We don't police nail color.

Our new members wear all white "dressy" clothes, which permits slacks as well as skirts and dresses. We're not overly fussy about the pureness of the white, though, so we get a lot of variation. After all, it's tough to find true white when your pledge class is initiated in December, as mine was! The sisters (both collegiate and any alumnae who are there) wear all black.

We follow this same dress code when we induct a new chapter. But to go one step further to honor that new chapter, on the day of the induction sisters all over the country wear all black and their member badge in tribute... which we'll be doing tomorrow to welcome our 26th collegiate chapter!! :D

Same for my sisters! I will say that I advise my collegiate chapters to think tasteful when it comes to makeup in such situations, as in wedding day vs. going out clubbing.

I love you

On this note, I will say only that we were asked to arrive in all white. It was only after arriving at initiation that we changed into our catsuits (white for initiates, green for sisters) and the officers donned their white faux-fur stoles over their green catsuits.

Um. I'll shut up now.

:p

What? The creepy Mormon cult-look doesn't appeal to you? :D

I was told that if we could not find a boa made entirely of white dove feathers, we could wear one made of pigeon feathers that had been bleached.

Seriously, the main thing I remember is no wristwatches. In this day and age, those have been supplanted by cell phones, and I would hope it goes without saying, those are verboten.

Oh, the shoes! I forgot about the shoes. What kills me is there must be a factory out there somewhere that makes all that stuff. And some $8/hour factory guy who thinks all sorority girls are complete nutballs.

I'm thinking I've heard more than once that the no-makeup rule is to keep makeup from getting onto the robes, which would then have to be cleaned and pressed every time instead of once or twice a year. That would make more sense.

Now I'm creeped out. The ad at the top of the page is www.shopwhitedress.com. How do they know???????????????????? :eek:

What kills me is we probably all wore exactly the same thing, but since we can't discuss, we don't know! Back to the factory thing - they couldn't stay in business if they were just manufacturing secret catsuits for just Alpha Xi.

Keeping my ears open and my mouth shut.
 

I feel a tad bit guilty because I so enjoy reading the information on this thread, but do not feel comfortable sharing information. Am I the only one who feels this way?