Bamalash wants sorority to Tiktok celebrities
The Bamarash Trend is taking over Tiktok. These potential sorority members are showing off their outfits on social media.
On August 6th, 2022, Calland Darnell, a freshman at the University of Alabama, woke up with excited and uncertainty. It was the first day of sorority recruitment and a milestone she says she felt like the beginning of adulthood.
Wearing carefully curated outfits (gucci-patterned shorts, Zara tops, stacks of Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Kendra Scott bracelets), she hit a “record” from her dorm room and posted a video of her outfit that erupted her viral. It marked the beginning of her persona as a sorority girl. After she joined Zeta Tau Alpha at school, she will begin to define her online brand.
“Hey, today is the first day of the Bama Rush and I’m very excited,” Darnell shared on Tiktok, and she shared the outfit of the day, or #ootd. “I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life and I hope you’re full with me.”
After nearly four years of over a million followers, Darnell became the face of “Rashtock.” It is the nickname for the corner of the internet and records sorority recruitment. But the process behind brand deals, designer outfits and elaborate outfits was at the forefront.
“When I essentially became famous online, I was really vulnerable,” says Darnell. “I really didn’t know how to navigate it… I did my best to be absolutely perfect.”
Over the years, she found ways to manage the pressure. But some of the online negativity she faced this year has crossed the line. In the video on August 11th, Darnell shared with her followers that she is taking a break from the recruitment process to focus on her mental health.
“I’m in a mental health place where I’m struggling,” Darnell said in a recent video. “I won’t lie to you guys about it. I hope I don’t enjoy it… If I go there and show you these clothes and keep doing it, I’ll lie to you guys and myself.”
Navigate online fame at a young age
The video sparked a wider conversation about Darnell’s journey as a public figure and a rushing experience. Sorority recruitment, or rush, is a multi-day process at universities across the country, hoping that young women interested in joining sororities will meet current members of Greek organizations and receive an invitation to join the chapter. The intensity and experience vary from school to school, but those that tend to get viral emphasize over-the-top dance routines, packed schedules, and make-up or break outfits.
The sorority recruitment process has been put into the spotlight with the rise of #Rushtok. This is a trend in Tiktok that begins in 2021, centered around the University of Alabama. Girls like Darnell have been reviewed by posting OOTDs in each round. This phenomenon has influenced the 2023 HBO Max documentary about this process and a new lifetime special, “Sorority Mom’s Guide to Rush!”
When Darnell posted that first OOTD video, she didn’t expect it to be “on a pedestal.” A longtime pageant and dance recital had prepared her for a sorority life, but as she joined the rush process as the first woman in the family, she says she became “completely ignorant” about social media guidelines and reputation among different homes.
“Every time I go back and watch rush videos, I want to cry every time I see them. It looks so scary,” says Darnell.
The date of adoption is often burnt and can start at 7am or 8am early after the day’s schedule is released. Many girls bring lash bags to houses full of essentials, including mint, bobby pins, dry shampoo, hairspray, oil blotting sheets, perfumes, fans, portable phone chargers, advils, floss, deodorizers and more.
“It’s very tired,” says Trisha Addix, a sorority rush consultant. “You have to handle the female students you’ve been invited to, often times you have to deal with the disappointment, be positive for eight hours and be open and prepared to be bothered.”
Addix says the rush process can hit your self-esteem. She still remembers when she first ran through the sorority at the University of Georgia in 1986, opening a bid day envelope and learning that she didn’t accept her. She rushed again, and then finally joined the sorority the following year.
“I’m devastated,” Adox says. “I felt isolated. I was embarrassed. I was crying.”
“Online isn’t always a clear picture.”
When Addicks went through recruitment, the girls lined up in the hallways to open bids, learning about the reputation of each sorority, and ultimately accepting which bids by word of mouth. Now, choreographed dance videos with brand partnerships, props and elaborate costumes and Hollywood-level productions will lead millions of viewers into the process.
The video for the bid day shows a young woman crying in joy as she toressssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss Their captions amplify the excitement of the day: “The best day of my life,” says one video. “Finally at Phi Mu, home,” another reads. “Only the best go axo,” another declares, showing signs of sorority’s hands.
“It has made the stabs of rejection so much worse, and all of them because I see others on social media being so excited, so happy and living their best life.
Darnell says her experience was so authentic as she went in without preconceptions, and she is worried that Tiktok can set unrealistic expectations for girls going through the same process.
“There have been so many girls on DMS over the years and say, ‘I’m going to go to the University of Alabama, thanks to you, I’m watching some of your videos, it looks so enjoyable, I want to live the way you live.” ” Darnell shared on Tiktok.
In a way, Darnell is releasing the process again through her younger sister Izzy, a freshman at the University of Alabama.
Unlike her older sister, Izzy comes to college with over a million followers, raising the online scrutiny she faces. Darnell shared that part of her decision to step back from rush was influenced by the negativity her sister was facing online.
“It’s hard to see family members being chosen,” Darnell said. “I started to be a mommy bear, and I really had to take a step back and be like, ‘OK, this is yours, not my process.’ ”
Darnell’s life had a point in her whole personality that was her sorority, but as an elderly person, she is ahead of her post-university life. She wants to pursue sports broadcasting. Online, it was difficult to separate her brand from sorority life.
When she took a step back from posting Greek life content last year, rumors swirled that she had dropped the Zeta. Recently, online users have been flooded with comments asking about Darnell about Zeta’s social media accounts, and Darnell asked the sorority’s social media manager to delete the comments.
“I thought people were supporting me, but I couldn’t get it by commenting on negative things on my friend’s page. “I had to take a step back then.”
If she could go back in time, Darnell said, “I told her to really incorporate that and be grateful to be a freshman in college, but not to keep everything in mind.” “Now I’m more comfortable with my skin. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I have a different level of confidence than I did back then.”
Rachel Hale’s role in covering youth mental health at USA Today is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editor input. Contact her at rhale@usatoday.com @RachelLeighhale x.
(This story has been updated to include a video.)
