Some still do! Cambridge/Oxford (St. Andrews? maybe? Violet help me out here?) staff do occasionally teach and/or go about their days in their academic dress.

My high school (public) colors are orange and navy blue. I have to say, the girls looked great in the orange. The guys looked great in the blue. :) The girls had white collars to attach to the gown. We bought ours. Since I actually graduated from summer school, all the kids wore white gowns with the tassel from their home school. It was a district wide graduation. So, I have two set of gowns.

The honor/CSF (California Scholarship Federation) students got to keep their cords and/or sashes.

For college, I wore black for my Jr. college graduation. We bought them. I know that City College of San Francisco has switched from red to black every now and then. School colors are red and white.

Since my current school (Academy of Art) uses black, I will re-use the one I have from CCSF since we have to buy them.

The universities I attended but transferred out of:
Grambling State: All wear black. School colors are Black and Gold.
SFSU: All wear purple. School colors are Purple and Gold.

I bought my high school gown but rented for college and law school graduation.

The degree-granting school is actually indicated by the colors and the way those colors are arranged. For example one school may be indicated by red with one white chevron while another is indicated by red and two white chevrons, while yet another might be white with a red chevron. All 3 are red and white, but in different designs.

Right; academic dress is derived from medieval clerical dress, since the faculty of European universities were clergy.

I've always preferred the British style of academic dress (and, to bring it back to clergy, the Scottish style of Geneva gown) to the American styles.

My mother attended St Andrews in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Never mind the professors - students wore academic gowns to class - every day. First-year students were required to wear their gowns buttoned up to the neck line. Second-year students could unbutton the top button. I believe this is still the case. On the up side, it means you didn't really need to own a coat - a nice thick wool robe could get you through a fiercely cold Scottish winter.

We did this at my private school, BUT it wasn't at graduation. We wore white caps and gowns at graduation, which was on a Sunday, but the day before, on Saturday, we had an elaborate prize ceremony where we wore long white deb-like dresses, carried long-stemmed red roses, and participated in several other traditions.

Sounds a little like Madeira.

I was thinking the same thing.

I attended a graduation commencement at The Maderia School for the cousin of a good friend. I remember well the full-length white dresses and long-stemmed red roses as the girls walked down into the amphitheatre.

http://landauinjurylaw.com/wp-conten...9/DSCF4857.JPG

I went to a private boarding school that is co-ed and for graduation the girls also wore white dresses but they didn't have to be long. Most girls wore dresses that were knee length, and basically the only rule we had to follow was they needed to be pure white and not off white. The boys wore white pants, a white dress shirt, a red tie, and a navy blazer (our school colors were red and navy). We didn't have caps, and they just gave us a tassel with our diploma.

I also went to a private high school and the girls also wore white dresses (and carried bouquets) for the commencement ceremony. I wore a long, white lace dress and ordered this lovely arrangement of sweet peas and ivy. The boys wore their dress uniforms.

Do some faculty and students at Sewanee still wear gowns to class? And do male students still wear coat and tie to class?

My high school colors were navy blue and gray, with white used often as an accent. Graduates of both genders wore navy blue robes and caps with navy and gray tassels. Honor roll graduates wore gray robes and caps with gold tassels. The salutatorians and valedictorian wore white robes and caps with gold tassels.


For my bachelor's degree at Cal State Long Beach, we all wore black caps and gowns with the color of the tassel indicating the subject area of the degree.


On an interesting side note, after getting my B.A. and doing postgraduate studies overseas, I went back and completed an Associates Degree in Fire Protection Technology. At the community college, the graduates wore the typical black cap and gown. However, Fire Technology students have a long-standing, special tradition of wearing fire helmets instead of caps! Yes, we hung our tassels right from the side of the fire helmets. We got a lot of attention and the professional photographers had a field day taking pictures of our group.


http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6...rgradgroup.jpg


Those who didn't work for a department yet wore the college's fire helmets which are used during classes and training. Those of us who already work for a fire department wore our own helmets. That's why some have different colored helmets in the photo. The guy in the red helmet is a Captain who went back to get his degree! And, BTW, I am first on the left in the top row, yellow helmet. :)

Something happened here and my comment didn't take. The colors probably refer to their major, rather than honors/not honors. If following academic regalia guidelines, the hood color refers on the front there to the major, and would have the school's colors on the inside. My hood graduating from Gannon was gold on the front referring to my major, maroon and gold on the inside in the back referring to my university. If I were to attend graduation for another college as faculty and dress in regalia, I'd wear the hood/gown appropriate to the university where I obtained my highest degree. Since I didn't attend graduation for my Master's, I don't even know what it looks like, but it's definitely blue and gold on the inside, and longer than the one for my B.A..

For colleges, while some wear other colors (which is great), the typical is black following "accepted" regalia. It's actually pretty rigid.


They wear black, typically, with hoods signifying the type of degree and the university's colors (Maroon for University of Phoenix, etc.). And if you think any of them are making money right now... ha.

^ Confused. When did I make the comment about online colleges?

Not sure - I quoted it... there was also a photo I quoted but clearly my absence from GC has led me to technological stupidity, as only half of the comments I multi-quoted made it, and only half of my original comment.


Ahhh looks like it was a comment from FSUZeta? Trying to fix now.

Hm...

I said this:

in response to AGDee's comment. I don't know where the online college thing came from! lol