It’s a Timeless Tradition A long-standing one too, dating back to the Middle Ages. You’ve reached an academic milestone and the academic dress symbolises exactly this. Unifying You and Your Peers By wearing the same attire as your peers you’re unifying yourselves as one collective. Sharing the same dress helps to connect you all, promoting a sense of belonging and unity. Encouraging a Sense of Equality You’re all graduating, sharing this special day as a collective and as you’re all uniform there’s no need for imbalance between students. You are all treated as equals, academic class or grade doesn’t matter and neither does your social standing. It’s an Honour & a University Reward You want to be recognised for your achievements and wearing academic dress shows everyone you’re graduating, it’s your honour, something to stand proud in. You’re almost separating yourself from society as you collect your degree, ready to enter back with a new status It’s Smart And of course, you truly look the part, you’re representing yourself, your university and your school. The graduation hat and gown ensure formality among students.
Academic robes can be traced as far back as the Middle Ages and were worn by European scholars and religious figures. As the first universities cropped up in the 12th and 13th centuries students and professors adopted academic dress from the church.
Professors and academics were quite often priests, monks and clerics, therefore the traditional robes they sported infiltrated their way into university dress.
Now you might be wondering why the church party would wear robes in the first place. It’s believed that the robes helped keep out the cold. The graduation gowns you might wear today are far from the original robe. 800 years ago these robes would be made of thick, heavy material as buildings would not be heated.
Students would also adopt the robe and gown dress style to articulate their social status and academia, and keep warm too!
By 1321 universities, Oxford and Cambridge introduced uniformity in that all students were required to wear academic robes during ceremonies, to encourage a sense of unity among students. Moving into the 14th century the robes shape and cut became a significant feature of the academic dress. In the 15th century colours came into play, robe colours began to vary across academic school signifying rank, profession and the level of education. Oxford University recognised that robe colours were originally incorporated based on availability. If you were seen to be sporting (hard to acquire) scarlet and blue you did so to communicate status.
Hoods also became a prominent robe feature, shapes and colours communicated degree and field of study.
Academic attire then moved across the Atlantic Ocean to America around the 16th-17th centuries, taking full inspiration from European dress.
Now the interesting shape of the mortarboard or graduation cap truly comes into question. Sadly its shape origins are difficult to confirm. However, we do know they were introduced around the 15th century, possibly evolving from the birettas hat worn by Catholic clerics and academics. Originally a tall round cap, the birettas hat evolved into a square shape and in 1583 it was recorded that the four corners were a symbol for the monarchies of the north, east, south and west. Others note that the square shape was simply designed to resemble Oxford University’s quad found on campus. The tassel was added and colour was used to communicate the academic field of the student. The flat, square graduation cap top is thought to represent a book as stands as a symbol for education and scholarly achievements. The name actually, odd as it may sound, shares the name of a bricklayers mortar board, a flat board used to hold mortar when laying bricks. The modern day graduation cap was first noted in 1950s USA where fibreglass was inserted into the cap to provide greater shape and structure. However, we are aware of the caps existence well before this thanks to photographs and paintings. Before official graduation, your tassel should be worn to the right and should then be moved to the left upon receiving your awarding degree. This signifies the transition from student to graduate: An honour and symbol of academic achievement.Origins of the Graduation Cap
Modern Day Mortarboards
Now the hood or robe colours that you’ll wear come graduation day in many institutions, as they did back in the day, represent your degree and faculty. Your graduation gown will usually be black (aside from those receiving their Doctorates) but your hood in most institutions will be coloured in your faculty's corresponding colours, or in some instiutions dthe colour denotes the level of academic achievement, rather than the specific faculty.
Colours vary between universities and will depend on your faculty, degree level, university or college and your level of achievement. Check with your gown hire provider if you are unsure!
For graduation cap and gown hire, Armstrong & Oxford provide a complete service for those wanting to look their best come awards day. We support many universities across Ireland, providing the very best gowns and academic attire as well as photography services and framing too for graduation day memorabilia.