Summer graduations are finishing up this week, and I thought I’d note a fashion upswing that has developed over the past few years: flashy regalia. No longer is the black on black of the traditional cap and gown the default. At one time it was easy to see who had a doctorate from a European university, the dapper half-gowns and vests or flowing smocks standing out among the boring, basic American gowns. A few universities have been ahead of the fashion curve by selecting gowns in their school colors of burgundy, navy, or deep green, but I’ve started seeing other splashes of color showing up at graduations, convocations, and inaugurations. I’ve even seen at least one that is gold with black-velvet lapel panels. Some of the lapel panels even include ornate embroidery of landmark buildings, spires, or rooflines.
One of the reasons for the shift away from the generic is that universities get a piece of the action from the campus bookstore for the sales of the distinctive gowns. The more distinctive, I suspect, the higher the price and the greater the piece of the action. Another is the easy availability of alternative designs through online retailers.
Do you prefer the traditional black on black, or have you seen an institutional gown that makes you a tiny bit jealous?
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30 Responses to Regalia Revisited
mwill1949 - July 29, 2010 at 11:26 am
One guy back in the 80′s wore an “outfit” that made him look like Obi Wan Kenobi. It was hilarious but not that well received. Wish I had a picture of him now.
interface - July 29, 2010 at 11:33 am
I like basic black.
uidaho1 - July 29, 2010 at 11:40 am
Two examples I’ve seen stand out. University of Bologna: Maroon velvet floppy hat, short jacket and knee britches, white stockings and buckle shoes. University of Uppsala: Black swallow-tailed cutaway coat and top hat. Think outside the robe!
sladejw - July 29, 2010 at 11:52 am
UChicago robes–Maroon with black velvet.NYU robes–Purple w/black velvet.Classy & distinctive!
dmflewelling - July 29, 2010 at 11:58 am
Southern California makes for a very hot outdoor commencement ceremony with black on black. I would like to see “tropical white” a la US Navy.
lanejoplin - July 29, 2010 at 12:10 pm
We encourage our students to decorate their caps. We get some pretty crazy designs out of them. Also, last year one of our students dressed up like a Jedi to walk across stage. Pretty Epic!
jon_margerumleys - July 29, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I do like my U of Michigan regalia. It did, however, cost more than my wife’s wedding dress. :(
vdolgopolov - July 29, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Clark University’s (Worcester, Mass) doctoral gows are teal, and an eye-piercing color at that, with golden seals on the chest that proclaim “Fiat Lux” (delusions of grandeur?). I’ve been told I resemble a peacock during the mating season while wearing that robe.
robertkase51 - July 29, 2010 at 12:47 pm
The entire robe thing is getting out of hand. More color, more gold awards, more expense. The entire idea of a uniform is to look alike. If we desire more individuality, then why have robes at all. I don’t like wearing black on black, (due to the heat) but I am not going to invest anymore money into this fashion war on color for robes. It costs too much to keep up.
chron2chron - July 29, 2010 at 1:18 pm
USA universities are too conformist as is.More color is better. The medieval gives way to the renaissance.At least ONE segment of society should lead into the futurewhile still honoring tradition. Stuck in the mud means stuck.Time to move out and move onward.
hlsimmons - July 29, 2010 at 3:33 pm
hlsimmonsMy doctoral gown is from Florida State University, which uses a lighter shade of maroon with black velvet. Quite attractive.
profjw - July 29, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I always wondered who was “in charge” of such things — and here’s the answer: there’s a council overseen by ACE (the American Council on Education) which has been doing so since 1932. Here’s the link:http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10625I believe it used to be that only schools that were over 100 years old could use gown colors other than black, but I’m not sure that anyone’s paying too much attention to that one anymore.To be honest, I kind of like the old structure (black for us “newcomers”) but maybe that’s just my grey hair talking.
ottavina - July 29, 2010 at 5:08 pm
The University of Washington has purple robes with purple velvet. (Think of a cluster of grapes.) But their robes certainly are distinctive.
sarajean - July 29, 2010 at 11:29 pm
As a librarian, I do not take part in the commencement procession. However, I like the colorful robes. A variety of colorful faculty robes is a visual reminder that faculty members bring knowledge from different institutions of higher learning. (The hood linings aren’t as obvious.)As an aside, when I was looking for images of some of the gowns described above, I saw that when one puts one’s mouse over the name of the institution on Oak Hill Cap and Gown’s “Academic Regalia” page, an image of the gown is displayed. For your viewing pleasure: http://oakhalli.com/schools.php
annon1234 - July 30, 2010 at 8:15 am
I hate any of the gowns (and I hate graduation – never went to any of mine and it is torture to sit through them). They are hot, ugly, expensive and no pockets. At least with the master’s gown you can pick out the thread in the long tails on the sleeves and fill them up with M&M’s or something but the doctoral gowns have no options like that. ONe place I was at someone rigged a way to hide booze and a long straw (used the liner from those water bottles for bikes that come in back packs) and brought paper cups and passed out drinks) but I notice now many people sit and text or cruise the internet on their phones…Who cares what color they are. I don’t. What I’d pay for is a clone to wear mine and sit through graduation torture for me.
deandunn - July 30, 2010 at 8:45 am
Gene, if you look at your former employer, you’ll see a bright yellow gown with black detailing. The legacy of a failed former president remains.
lexalexander - July 30, 2010 at 9:24 am
With the exception of my own A.B. (black on black), my role at commencements has been limited to that of spectator or, more recently, photographer, so I’m all about the colors and appreciate the history. But I figure that if you’ve earned a Ph.D., you’ve probably also earned the right to wear whatever you please and can afford.
mzamon - July 30, 2010 at 10:02 am
George Mason switched to a very attractive dark green with its other color gold trim for PhD- I love mine and it was a gift from my husband when I finished at age 66– I agree with the post that seeing all the color reminds us we are a larger company of scholars than our own insititution-I enjoy graduation – it is moving to see so many young or not so young persons marking achievemnet and going outward to affect the future-Mary Zamon
barnwani - July 30, 2010 at 10:33 am
The University of Texas at Austin five years ago began offering custom regalia for its doctoral graduates in the school color of burnt orange. When I heard about this plan in 2001, I thought they would be hideous. But to my (and many others’) surprise, they are gorgeous. Here is more information about them than you could want: http://www.utexas.edu/commencement/2005/regalia.html. The traditional black robes are still available, but since the regalia provider now has custom robes for rent as well as for purchase, they have become much more popular for the commencement ceremonies.
frankschmidt - July 30, 2010 at 10:59 am
The black traditionally signified the essential equality of all scholars. I guess some universities feel the need to be more equal than others.Richard Feynman did his Ph.D. at Princeton back in the days when it fancied itself an American Oxford. Graduate students had to wear gowns to eat in hall. Feynman, being Feynman, bridled at this, until he realized that the gown was correct no matter what was under it or how tattered and stained. This gave him extra time for tennis, since he didn’t have to change before dinner.
saintmaur - July 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm
I believe that Harvard always had that lovely crimson gown as ‘default’. Yale followed rather later with a “Yale blue” option and things escalated from there. I’ve sometimes looked around at our faculty on display and thought: the lousier the school, the brighter the robe. Test that out….
ewallison - July 30, 2010 at 4:35 pm
My wife got her Phd from NYU, which is purple and quite handsome. I received mine from Columbia, which has been pale blue for a very long time. If nothing else, my students have trouble finding me in the crowd,
ewallison - July 30, 2010 at 4:36 pm
* no trouble, that is.
greeneyes15 - July 30, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I received my Ph.D. from U. Illinois, and I thought the blue gowns got more and more hideous with the advanced degrees. It’s kind of a dark royal blue and isn’t too bad for the undergrads. The blue-on-blue doctoral gowns with the university trademark I in orange on the left shoulder are awful. Fortunately, my current department has a stash of black gowns that they let us use when we participate in graduations, so I didn’t buy my regalia. I like some of the other colored gowns I’ve seen but hated mine! However, it’s my understanding that the representation of the school should be in the hood, along with your degree color; for example, my MA hood has green and white to represent Michigan State U.
jffoster - July 31, 2010 at 8:07 am
24, You may think the new Illini gowns of Admiralty blue with orange trim “are awful” but I like them. And I’m an Illini too. Although the block I only on one side is a little imbalanced. Of course I would rather have a figure of the Chief, but when I get my new set, I’ll have a small emblem of Chief Illiniwek sewn onto the right doctoral panel opposite the block I, and there’s not a damned thing the NCAA, the University, or the American Anthropological Politically Correct Association can do about it. But why did they leave the hood black instead of makitng it Admiralty blue to match the gown? Odd.
buddycompany - July 31, 2010 at 6:34 pm
I just complete my doctorate degree. Boy, I thought I was buying a wedding gown for the price I had to pay! The robe did look nice.KH
klblk - August 1, 2010 at 4:29 am
@frankschmidtIn Oxbridge, black MA gowns are still worn for ordinary occasions such as dinner at High Table. I wear mine nearly every weekday during the academic year, although no-one apparently lectures in theirs anymore. Some of the retired faculty sport gowns so old they are green rather than black, and more hole than fabric. There are evidently plenty of clothes moths with academic tastes. The MA gown with subfusc (dark suit and white shirt), with a hood, hat, and appropriate tie is required for invigiliating examinations. The students all wear subfusc and gowns when taking exams. Occasionally I get stopped by tourists for a photo when I’ve been examining. On special occasions such as the Vice Chancellor’s garden party, doctoral regalia can be worn, which gives a chance to show off the colourful regalia.
rbutler99 - August 1, 2010 at 11:23 am
I’m surprised others haven’t challenged the immediate profit motive in Mr. Fant’s statment, “get a piece of the action from the campus bookstore for the sales of the distinctive gowns. The more distinctive, I suspect, the higher the price and the greater the piece of the action.” (Fant, Regalia Revisited, Chronicle of Higher Education website, 7/29, blogPost/Regaliz-Revisitied/25860) My own interpretation is that marketing and public relations play some role, but I find the implication of “bilking” one’s faculty and students” offensive. It represents greed and short sighted thinking. Distinctive packaging is often part of marketer’s strategy for reinforcing brand awareness, with desired outcomes of increased sales and reducing sensitivity to pricing. Gowns may be conceived of as part of achieving that marketing/public relations outcome. We note that distinctive garb across instituions, rather than shared garb, is a factor in emphasizing the local institution, at the same time de-emphasizing the catholic nature of education across institutions, faculty and students. The agreement on hoods (color codes), was a reasonable policy in preserving a balance between symbols of universal value and symbols of professional and institutional distinctiveness. With the race to distinctiveness, we seem in some danger of not just deemphasinging, but perhaps ultimately losing our symbols of shared academic enterprise. That seems a substantial cost.
oldcommprof - August 1, 2010 at 1:49 pm
I like my basic black gown, but with blue bands on the upper arms — and the floppy hat. Weird colors should be confined to the hoods, where they are actually kind of interesting. Oddly colored robes makes the whole rig look like a Halloween costume.
profhood1 - August 1, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I like the color at commencement. I am happy that my own gown is a lovely blue or sapphire (there’s some debate). And I have the added joy of a tam instead of the mortar board. But I would seriously consider getting another PhD, this time from Stanford. I’m lusting over their regalia. Google – “stanford regalia” and start drooling.