High School Graduation Gown Colors

[Sciencewoman]

When I got my Ph.D., I bought my cap, gown, and hood. It cost about $400 for the ensemble, 14 years ago. It has my initials embroidered in the gown. It was an investment, because I do wear it for convocation and graduation every year. Some of my fellow professors have school colors...our Dean graduated from Ohio State, and her gown is whatever that red color is from "that school." I've also seen purple for a Northwestern Ph.D. professor, with ermine-type collar/trim. That's the fanciest gown I've ever seen...and he wore it with jeans and beat up tennis shoes!

Here's a bit of hood trivia that I learned from an older professor: in earlier times, professors at European universities taught in their academic regalia. When the professor recessed down the aisle following class, students paid the professor by putting money in the pocket at the back of the hood. Academic hoods for professors are still made this way, with a pocket at the bottom. The interior colors indicate the school colors of the university where the doctorate was received, and the velvet signifies the subject area of the degree (light blue = education, kelly green = medicine, etc.)

[carnation]

Yeah, when I'm at graduations I spend time trying to figure out where the professors got their degrees. Sometimes I realize I'm wrong because I'll think, for instance, "OK, that's Jacksonville State--nope, they don't offer that doctorate, let's see..." It's fun and kills a lot of time.

I bought my regalia when I got my Ph.D. too; that paid for itself rapidly. I wonder which colors are put in the hoods of those stupid online universities from which a lot of educators are now buying their degrees?

[PhoenixAzul]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

Here's a bit of hood trivia that I learned from an older professor: in earlier times, professors at European universities taught in their academic regalia. When the professor recessed down the aisle following class, students paid the professor by putting money in the pocket at the back of the hood. Academic hoods for professors are still made this way, with a pocket at the bottom. The interior colors indicate the school colors of the university where the doctorate was received, and the velvet signifies the subject area of the degree (light blue = education, kelly green = medicine, etc.)

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.

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by 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)

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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by lilykkg

This thread is the first time I ever heard of renting graduation gowns. I wish those were options at the schools my brother and I attended. The only gown my parents didn't have to pay out of pocket for was my high school gown, that was included in our tuition.

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

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

Academic hoods for professors are still made this way, with a pocket at the bottom. The interior colors indicate the school colors of the university where the doctorate was received, and the velvet signifies the subject area of the degree (light blue = education, kelly green = medicine, etc.)

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.

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

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

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.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

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 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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

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.

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

[navane]

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.





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.