Only PNMs in Black Dresses Allowed
 

Are black dresses TRULY the desired and expected attire for rushees at Pref?
I know every girl looks good in black, but as someone who is trying to buy minimum amounts of clothes for recruitment, I have some perfectly cute et colorful dresses in my closet now. I know there is no "uniform" for recruitment, just guidelines, but everything I've ever seen about pref had PNMs preparing for a funeral. Are colorful outfits discouraged?

Side note - I remember feelng underdressed when I went to the pref parties at my old university. I wore a really nice semiformal, and other girls were actually in prm dresses. No way I'm dragging out the sequins...

MTSUGurl,
I have personally never gone through formal recruitment on the PNM side, however I was a VERY avid reader of the rush threads last fall (if that counts for anything!), and remember most all the comments made by GC'ers to pnm's regarding pref dresses included wearing a "different" color to make them "stand out" since most pnm's would probably be wearing a black dress.

I don't know if this helps you or not!

Maybe some of the more seasoned GC'ers could chime in !

I'm so excited for you! :)

I remember reading comments in my rush thread from girls telling me NOT to wear a black dress to pref so I would stand out, since the sisters would be in black. I wore a maroon dress.

GOOD LUCK!!

You need to find out the specific guidelines for YOUR college before you buy a dress for pref night.

At my school, PNM's are specifically told to please NOT wear a black dress on pref night. In some sororities, the actives are wearing black dresses for pref ceremonies, and we want it to be obvious to everyone who the rushees are and who the sisters are.

Typically, in terms of pref dresses you can't go wrong in something slightly atypical--so you get noticed "in a good way"--but not something that's too far off the beaten path. You don't want the same dress from Ann Taylor (or wherever) that four other rushees in your group will be wearing, even if it's cute.

We (sisters) always wore black cocktail dresses for Pref, so you don't see many PNMs in black. I wore a cute sage green church-type dress when I preffed, and it was fine.

Yes I agree. They told us as pnm not to wear black b/c that is what the sisters would be wearing and they wanted us at a glance to be able to tell a pnm from a sister :)

I wore a red dress to pref, and the sisters ALL knew who I was. But, be sure you are in the same style as the other PNM's...for example, mine was a short cocktail dress, but that is what everyone wears at my school in the midwest.

I also encourage you to look into colors OTHER than black... in my sorority, all the sisters are wearing black, as are most of the PNMs - so it's a whole lot of black. The girls wearing color really stand out and get noticed.

I remember one girl I preffed, Diana, was wearing a very colorful dress, green and blue - she stood out and looked really unique and pretty - someone we wanted in our chapter.

Also, I think every woman in my chapter remembers little Rachel during Pref. This girl is tiny and adorable, and on Pref day was wearing a black shirt and black pants, but with a wide bright pink sash/belt. When she stood up to put her iris in the vase in the middle of the room, you could almost hear all the sisters think "We want her!" - she looked so pulled together and classy, but fun all at once.

At my school I went to two prefs, at one house all the sisters wore black, at another all the sisters wore white. Pnm's wore whatever color they wanted, I wore a pink/maroon skirt with a black top.

~Sarah~

I'm casting another vote for "not black." At our school, sisters wear black, and probably 75 percent of PNMs wear black, so a non-black dress will definitely make you more memorable.

As someone before me said, though, you DON'T want to stand out by wearing a prom dress when everybody else is in cocktails, so make sure you find out from your school what's expected on Pref night.

I was thinking on the lines of this for another thread, but this might be better. Put me down for not wearing a black dress, too, if your school gives you the option. UNLESS!! You look absolutely stunning in it, and spice it up with something like the bright pink sash that KerriMarie mentioned - you want to be noticed & remembered - but in a positive way.

What I had considered posting originally was under the thread about hints for rush, especially pref. As a rushee, I blushingly confessed to my rush crush that I was wearing my lucky dress especially for that party. I later found out that the sisters found that precious, and was a huge point in my favor!

Good luck!

Many of the sisters at houses wear black during prefs so the Rho Gamma's at our school will tell them NOT to wear black.

Wear something that you look good in and feels comfortable on you. Prefs are usually long so you don't want a dress that's too tight or a dress wear the staps keeping falls down.

I always noticed the girls in the colorful dresses. So many people wear dark dresses so when a girl would come in wearing white, hot pink, or something bright, I definitely took notice. It makes you stand out more.

MTSUGURL-
I am not sure what our guidlines for dress code are yet, but I do remember people telling me to "dress for rememberance" meaning where something that makes you stand out. So, it seems the other girls posts on this board prove to be very accurate!! Let me know if you hear of anything....

Kara

I wore a black dress to pref night as did every other PNM who was rushing. This wasn't required by any means, and I only remember one dress that wasn't completely black. It had small white pinstripes on it.
None of our houses that I am aware of wear black on pref. night so that wasn't really an issue. However, the August heat was awful in those black dresses. Between parties PNMs are stuck outside with only a small tent to sit under for shade. However, the black dress tradition reigns and most likely will stay that way for years to come. I think a lot of it depends on your school.

Just be tasteful! No prom dresses, no bridesmaids dresses, and NO CLUB dresses -- you are not coming to pref to look for guys -- so look classy and present yourself as such. You should be remembered for how you appeared during the other rounds -- someone noticed you and wanted you to come back to pref - otherwise you wouldn't be there.

My caution about scarfs, sashes, etc. At the school where I pledged, it was VERY common for the women rushing to wear the color of the sorority that they liked - if they liked Phi Mu they would wear something pink...ZTA they would show up in blue....us, they had something red, etc. It got to be where throughout the process, we would notice what colors people were wearing and think "hmmm, does she want that group?" -- I know that sounds weird, but the PNM's were very proud to say that they wanted to be an XYZ and by wearing the colors, they would kinda be like putting that out to the sisters. In many cases, it worked!