Title: White, Blue and Grey Clothing

General Information about Item:

• Customary Folklore: Ritual, Tradition

• English

• USA

• Informant Data:
  • Tara Joshi ’18
  • Age: 21
  • Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
  • Joined Dodecs Freshman Fall
  • Current President

Contextual Data:

• Social Context

All members of the group participate in this ritual. It has been a tradition to wear white, blue or grey for as long as the Informant can remember. This ritual happens for almost every show. For more casual shows the group may wear random clothing with a different theme, and for the first show of the fall after new members have joined, the new members will dress in flair (crazy, mismatched clothing) while returning members dress in black.

• Cultural Context

The Dodecaphonics tries to create a strong bond amongst its members. Having the group dress in the same colors provides members with a common experience and allows them to become closer and reinforces the group’s inclusive culture.

Item:

Members of the group dress in clothes that are blue, white or grey for every performance. Depending on how fancy the show is the clothes may be very fancy or casual. For the baby show (the first show after new members have been selected), new members will dress in flair (mismatched, crazy clothing) while returning members wear black. However, other than these rare circumstances, members always where white, blue or grey.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

White, Blue and Grey Clothing

Transcript

“Cords for example, their thing is wearing corduroys, so like they have a schtick. And the Aires, they wear flair. That’s their thing. Our thing is nice blues, whites, and grays. That’s our color palette. That’s why almost everything I own is blue, white, or grey. It’s just how I started buying my clothes subconciously. For a nice show, we’ll wear nice blues, whites, and greys but for a more casual show, we’ll just wear casual clothing but blues, whites, and greys. But in a frat setting but a much more casual setting, we’ll just do whatever and have fun with it.”

Informant’s Comments:

By sporting the colors, blue, white, and grey in other aspects of her life the informant demonstrates how the Dodecaphonics are influencing her beyond the group’s shows and practices. The informant also believes she subconsciously wears more blue, grey, and white as a representation of how important the group is to her.

Collector’s Comments:

It is very interesting that this color scheme has influenced the clothes the informant wears outside of group practices and performances. This is similar to how many Dartmouth students subconsciously begin to wear more green and white which are the colors of Dartmouth.

Collector’s Name: Marcus Reid

Compiled/Analyzed by: Alex Chan/Sruthi Pasupuleti

Tags/Keywords:

• Singing
• acapella
• Clothing
• Blue
• White
• Gray
• Tradition