ALEXIS FORES
Staff Writer
You’re in the library. You notice a few male students dressed up in a suit and tie but it’s only Tuesday. You may be assuming, “Oh it’s probably for a class.” However, it is not for a class; it’s their style – the Delta Chi style.
When I was presented with the chance to sit down with a few Delta Chi members, I was able to discover more than the typical fashion story; I was able to witness a fashionable brotherhood. Without further ado, here is Delta Chi’s fashion story represented by Michael McMasters (junior finance, Silver Creek, NY); Thomas Broman (sophomore criminal justice, Boston, MA); Eric Cadena (senior marketing, Queens,NY); Brandon Washburn (junior public relations, Lewiston, NY) and Ralphy Rivas (freshman marketing, Manhattan, NY):
AF: What is Delta Chi’s fashion story?
Mike: Fashion is always evolving. Shirt and tie is always a go-to outfit.
Ralphy: We, as fraternity men, shirt and tie is our letters. When we’re not wearing letters, our shirt and tie is our letters.
Brandon: It’s a sense of professionalism. We have values that we follow and a lot of them are always that presentation is everything. And I think that’s one of the things we stress because we’re always striving for success and that starts with your image. It’s all look good, feel good, play good.
Thomas: You’ll rarely see us on campus in rugged clothes. Even if we have an early class, we get ourselves up and ready for the day.
Eric: Plus, it’s healthy to form a habit of getting up and wanting to get yourself presentable because being presentable means you’ll be more efficient in what you’re doing and when you feel good, you work great. We are an organization with all different individual members that have an image as a whole to keep. So, we always try and make sure we look presentable.
AF: Is there any required dress code?
Eric: No, there’s no dress code. Since we are an organization, we pretty much try to look like gentlemen and strive to be gentlemen. But we’re not going to tell someone that you have to dress a certain way because that’s not us. We’re not a group of Nazis trying to all look the same. Everyone has a different style, which is healthy for the group.
AF: Who is the most stylish in Delta Chi?
All: We’re all going to say our own name!
Mike: How about, the most stylish person not in this interview is Andrew Vertucci. Our wardrobe pretty much matches Andrew’s.
AF: Who is the least stylish in Delta Chi?
Brandon: The way we look at things is that there’s always room for improvement for everyone. We wake up and we try to progress and better ourselves everyday. So, just like any other area, no one is perfect. I think that we can all progress with everything.
Mike: But at the same time, everyone’s style is how you present yourself. Like, no one is going to tell me how to dress; I dress the way I want to dress. So, maybe someone doesn’t think I have good style but I think I have good style. And at the end of the day that’s all that really matters. We have a similar style within us, and I might think ‘oh you have to dress a little bit better or he has to dress a little bit better’ but they might not think that. So, who am I to tell someone their style needs to improve?
AF: Do you believe your styles mend together or everyone has their own unique style?
Eric: If you want to have that encompassed into a sentence, it’s more so different styles influence all of us. We have a basic introduction of what the style is and we just branch off from there. And that is the beauty of a diverse group because people will see that and be like, ‘they have the whole entire spectrum.’ So, I think that different styles is what makes the group an efficient and great group to be in.
AF:What can Delta Chi’s style be classified as?
All: The professional style
AF: What they do you like about the group’s style?
Brandon: What I like about it is that everybody’s apparel has their own personal twist to it. Like, I’m wearing bright red pants but you might not see Mike wear bright red pants.
AF: You guys are known for theme mixers. What has been your favorite or most outrageous theme attire you dressed up for?:
Eric: Our personal favorite was a jungle theme. He [Washburn] and I bought fabric, which had leopard print and his had almost a brown print. I wore a wig and a lion mask and I looked like a lion. People would turn around and scream. The girls were terrified.
Brandon: And mine blended into my skin color. It was really creepy. But that’s the thing, we all have really outgoing personalities and we’re always trying to one up each other so it gets pretty crazy sometimes.
Thomas: Probably America to be honest.
Ralphy: Yesterday, we had an American theme and Blizzard [Brian Blizzard] made me wear his hunting overalls and I’m like “why do you even have overalls? What’s up with you?”
Thomas: There’s the diversity there.
Ralphy: Yeah, I’ve never wore overalls in my life and with Blizzard, that was his life. Honestly, I think I could rock the look.
Mike: Dress to Impress is definitely my favorite just because I love wearing a suit. But if I had to go with craziest outfit it would have to be Toga or last year’s Jungle.
AF: Why do you dress up in theme attire?
Mike: There’s a cool twist on the social aspect. Like, some people have social anxiety and if you put everyone in a weird outfit, it kind of lightens the mood and increases your social image.
Brandon: Even outside of that, there’s stuff to learn from it. You’re going out of your comfort zone with your outfit; there’s things to take from that. If you walk into a place, with almost no clothes on, that takes a lot of confidence.
Eric: It does. Getting out of your comfort zone is a way you’re going to grow up. You can’t grow if you just stick to the norms.
Thomas: Yeah, going in theme attire is the best thing ever. You’ll definitely see me in a box or something.
Ralphy: It also helps that we all go in our theme outfits, it’s like ‘alright, we’re all doing it let’s go.’
Brandon: Our sense of image in our apparel sets like a unification, sets us apart from everyone else.
Mike: It’s kind of a bonding thing because when we are all in our theme attire, we’re doing something as a group.
AF: Do you have fashion advice for other students?
Thomas: We don’t really have any advice for them because they have their own fashion so we’re not going to tell them how they need to dress.
Eric: We can’t tell people how to look because that makes us pretentious. But what I can, personally Eric, give as advice would be look at fashion blogs, look at GQ magazine, look at those magazines because those are professional people writing professional articles for people to read. That’s where you can get your advice from. But never try to model someone else completely. You take some things from each person, each article and don’t live the whole article out because you have to put your own personal style. That’s how people are stylish by putting their own personal twist and not trying to be like Kayne West or Jay-Z. Be yourself, as you are, comfortable or uncomfortable, as long as you think you look good then that’s your style.