We're all familiar with those time lapse Youtube videos made to show the progress of women's makeup throughout
history. Well, the most rapid and arguable dramatic changes of style happen to women once they join a sorority. Now I am not saying the women who join sororities change who they are, but sororities do have required events that make it near impossible to avoid changing styles on the regular.
1. Recruitment Week
When going through recruitment as a potential new member, you are given a fairly intricate list of the “suggested" style choices for each datebook. These days vary between first datebook which suggests a nice, casual outfit all the way to recycling your homecoming dress for preference night. On the other side of recruitment, the girls in the sorority are given a detailed, pre-planned, and unwavering list of mandatory clothing. This style choice is more restricted because the idea is to have consistency in outfits to keep with the theme. This means that for three years in a row, you can anticipate looking like a clone, but it's all in good spirit in order to recruit new members.
2. Chapter Meetings
You will never know the struggles of having to dress in business attire every Monday. Well, at least not until you are in the business world and you need to wear that clothing every day of the week for work. The point is that for college students we dress to maximize comfort, so knowing that every Monday requires heels, blazers, and dress pants is a large adjustment. Once you join a sorority, it is surprising how quickly women become accustomed to dressing in business meeting attire with no complaints about it. Well, some complaints.
3. Campus Wear
The rumors are true... joining a sorority guarantees a flood of t-shirts. Long sleeve, short sleeve, and tanks, all representing your house's formals, philanthropies, recruitments, OH MY! The point is that quickly after joining a sorority, your drawers and closets become flooded with apparel representing your letters. Once this happens, a good 70% of your wardrobe is your letters, which dictates the majority of your style choices. Innately then this means your outfits to the gym, to class, lounging, and sleepwear are all in your sorority's apparel.
4. Spirit Week
The week prepping for recruitment makes it almost mandatory to always be in workout clothes, because you are perpetually sweating. Considering every day is about 12 hours of dancing, chanting, jumping, and all things recruitment, it's hard to imagine wearing anything else besides the largest shirt possible, and running
shorts for the whole week. The style of this week and all subsequent weeks leading up to recruitment mean that you will be dressing for the gym at all hours of the day, and you will come to realize that sometimes, chapter attire isn't so bad after all.
5. Formals
Time to feel #flawless. Many people believe that after high school, there are minimal to no reasons to dress up. However, sororities and fraternities alike have fall and spring formals, which means hang on to those prom dresses! Formals are typically held at nice venues, where they serve fancy plates of food and require you to dress to the nines with your date. Although it may have seemed corny in high school, it is surprising how fun it can be to have a legitimate reason to get dressed up and go out to a nice formal affair.
6. Greek Life
The Greek community has an undeniable power over setting fashion trends, and it becomes apparent after spending a few weeks immersed in the Greek community. It is interesting to see how these fashions collide somewhat to create a signature look for Greeks. Currently the styles for sorority women are white high top Chucks, flannels tied around the waist, and the all popular high top jean shorts. While this style did not originate in the Greek community, it is safe to say that the Greeks were responsible for making it such a trending fashion statement. This begs the question… what will be the next style trend popularized by Greeks?
7. Living In
There is no doubt that living in changes your style. How could it not? You live in a house with 80+ more closets than you could have imagined, and you see new styles daily. Living in is great, because not only are you exposed to new fashion ideas but you can also borrow those outfits for a trial run before buying them. It's the perfect situation of having extra closets without spending extra money.
life: friends, experiences, and definite style changes. The best thing to do is to embrace all these fashion changes and view them as a part of the college experience.
