High School Graduation Gown Colors

[aephi alum]

We rented our gowns. Everyone wore blue. I'm really glad we didn't do "boys in one school color, girls in the other" because our other school color was orange and nobody looks good in orange. (Well, at least I don't. LOL)

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

NHS members wore gold tassels at my high school, and the top students also wore gold stoles.

I'm fascinated that so many schools have boys and girls in different colors. I thought that had died out 60 years ago.

I think they just do it to get both school colors represented.

In my day- cum laude wore a gold tassel, magna cum laude wore gold tassel and gold hood and summa cum laude wore gold tassel, gold hood, and a medal on a rope with our school colors (red, white and blue). Hypo had a gold tassel and a hood.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I think they just do it to get both school colors represented.

I think gowns in school colors are also a relatively recent thing. Everything I've seen seems to suggest that prior to the 50s or 60s, boys generally wore black and girls black or white. Though I guess I can see how girls wearing white and guys wearing a darker color translated to using both school colors when gowns in school colors became popular -- especially since one of the colors is typically white or gold.

[ASTalumna06]

We had the guys in purple, the girls in white (school colors). The tassels were a mix of the two colors.

We weren't called in alphabetical order at graduation - it was guys in one row, girls in the next, and it alternated back and forth, so it actually looked nice with the alternating purple and white rows. A couple weeks before graduation, a seating chart was put in the main office, and all seniors could go and select where they wanted to sit. First come, first serve, of course.


Question - for college graduation, did anyone NOT wear a black gown? All Penn State students wear blue, and as far as I can remember (from pictures of all my friends' ceremonies), it's the only school I've seen that doesn't have black gowns.

[Sen's Revenge]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Question - for college graduation, did anyone NOT wear a black gown? All Penn State students wear blue, and as far as I can remember (from pictures of all my friends' ceremonies), it's the only school I've seen that doesn't have black gowns.

I wore a black gown, but Columbia wears their shade of blue.

[Munchkin03]

We rented our gowns. Everyone wore green, except for those who graduated summa cum laude. They wore white.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Question - for college graduation, did anyone NOT wear a black gown? All Penn State students wear blue, and as far as I can remember (from pictures of all my friends' ceremonies), it's the only school I've seen that doesn't have black gowns.

Those receiving baccalaureate degrees at UNC-Chapel Hill have worn Carolina blue gowns since at least the early 70s, if not earlier.



At NC State, they wear red gowns, though I don't know how long they've been doing that. UNC-Greensboro used to wear black, but switched to navy blue sometime in the last 20 years or so.

I think at Duke and Wake Forest, they still wear black. (Of course, Wake's colors are black and gold.)

[AOII Angel]

We wore blue in HS with the little white collars for the girls. In college, we wore black. In med school, we wore purple with gold piping (LSU's colors). Geaux Tigers!

[clarinette]

In high school I had a black cap and gown with a maroon and grey (school colors) tassel. In college, I had a brown (one of the school colors) robe with a pull with the school logo on, and a brown cap that I decorated with fabric paint. My college tassel was white because I'm a bachelor of arts.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by clarinette

In college, I had a brown (one of the school colors) robe with a pull with the school logo on, and a brown cap that I decorated with fabric paint.

Another question for everyone - did your high school and/or college allow you to decorate your cap? I had my high school cap airbrushed, and didn't do anything with my college cap, although we were permitted to do so.

[TPA85]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Question - for college graduation, did anyone NOT wear a black gown? All Penn State students wear blue, and as far as I can remember (from pictures of all my friends' ceremonies), it's the only school I've seen that doesn't have black gowns.

At my university, undergrads wore dark green. Only those graduating with advanced degrees wore black.

[ASTalumna06]

Ironically, here's another one I just came across in Football Fan's latest thread, 'Tri Delta Sisters'... James Madison University apparently graduates in purple and gold:

[AGDee]

I think the young women with gold hoods and tassels graduated with honors because a few of them have white.

I wore black when I graduated from college but now they wear the college's green color.

[carnation]

The black is often used at colleges because it accentuates the colors of the professors' hoods. I like mine, the velvet is sapphire blue while the inside is maroon and white.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I think the young women with gold hoods and tassels graduated with honors because a few of them have white.

Yes, this is what I assumed, also.