High School Graduation Gown Colors

[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.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Good gosh, I'm not THAT old!!!!

LOL. No, it's just that while I've seen pictures of guys and girls in different color robes (with the guys usually in a darker color and girls in white), I've never seen it IRL. It seems to have died out around here the middle of the last century. I just didn't realize it was still common other places.

Now, I am used to seeing the girls wear collars, like this:

[Sister Havana]

I graduated from a public high school. Boys wore black gowns and girls wore white. Our tassels were red and black (school colors) and National Honor Society members wore gold cords. Graduation was held in the gym, but a few years later was moved outside to the football stadium. It's been there ever since.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Graduated in '96. Everyone wore blue gowns, the school's primary color. We rented the gowns and were glad to return them afterward. I remember that they were thick material, maybe nicer gowns than the one I had in college. NHS members had gold cords, valedictorian/salutatorians had special cords, as well.

We had a separate night for honoring awards, so no special recognition of scholarships, "scholars" awards or things of that nature during the ceremony itself.

[lovespink88]

Many of the schools in the Chicago area just do their school colors, usually all the same color, which is good cause I also hate the different color thing. WTF is the point of that? I went to an all girls private school and we did the same thing. Our school colors were red and white so we went all white--I thought we looked really nice.

A lot of the $$$$$$$$ private schools (not mine, lol) did the ball gown/tux thing though. I'm personally not a fan. It seems off to me.

[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.

[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.

[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.