High School Graduation Gown Colors

[carnation]

The thing about caps and gowns: is there a person alive who looks good in a mortar board?

[Gusteau]

I went to a private, Catholic high school. We all graduated in royal blue gowns. The girls wore gold collars like the ones in the picture MC posted. NHS wore a medallion on a gold ribbon. We returned the gowns, but got to keep the hats. I don't remember if we had to pay a rental fee. One of the other Catholic schools in the area is all-boys and they wore tuxedos with white dinner jackets and red roses on their lapels (I'm talking about Chaminade for those of you from NY - it's fairly well known). I think one of the all-girls schools did white gowns.

Originally Posted by carnation

The thing about caps and gowns: is there a person alive who looks good in a mortar board?

So true - they're awful!

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally Posted by carnation

The thing about caps and gowns: is there a person alive who looks good in a mortar board?

One of the many great things about graduating from one of the Ancient Universities of Scotland: nae motarboards of any kind. Instead of caps, you get wacked on the head by the principal of the university with a cushion ("Te creatoreum Magistrum Litteras" I think that's what it was...basically "I create you Master of Letters, Doctor of Philosophy, etc) then some guy hooks you over the head with your hood, then you receive your parchment, shake the guy's hand, snap a picture, and on ye go. Fun fact: the colors of our hoods derived from the flowers of Scotland...with Doctors of Philosophy getting the purple of the thistle. As postgraduates, our hoods are MASSIVE, and our sleeves have a cutout to them. Scottish universities (and british universities in general) wear their gowns open. Typically, british graduates don't go in for any of the additional bling that Americans do, with honor chords and such.

Looks like this



As an undergraduate: robes were black, as is the tradition, with open sleeves (bell sleeves). Not traditionally, we wore hoods, with trim indicating our degree (BA, BS, BFA, BSN, etc) and interior silk with the tan and cardinal of our university.

Looks like this:


My public high school did the "white for girls, alternate color for the guys" thing, and it was tragic.

To the best of my knowledge, the reasons for the black gown and hoods was to recall the monastic origins of the education system.