Academic dress of the University of Oxford
This page concerns the academic dress of Oxford University.
As is natural in the oldest university in the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has a long tradition of academic dress, and a visitor to Oxford during term will see academic dress worn on a regular basis.
When academic dress is worn
Academic dress is still worn very often in Oxford, and every undergraduate and graduate goes in his or her first week to buy (or borrow) a gown, cap, and white bow tie (for men) or black ribbon (for women) for the purpose of enrollment in the University (known as matriculation).
Regulations regarding gowns differ from college to college, but gowns are commonly worn to:
- Formal Hall (formal dinner, which occurs as frequently as every night in some colleges and as rarely as once a term in others, or not at all)
- Chapel
- College collections (tests that take place at the start of term)
- Head of house's collections (end of term academic progress reports)
- College matriculation
Gowns and caps are worn to disciplinary hearings in the Proctors' Court.
In addition, gowns are worn with cap, hood (for graduates), and subfusc to:
- University examinations
- University matriculation
- Graduation ceremonies
- The annual Encaenia (Commemoration) ceremony.
In 2006, a referendum held amongst the Oxford student body showed 81% against making the wearing of subfusc voluntary in examinations — 4,382 voted in the poll, almost 1,000 more than voted in the previous term's student union elections[1]. This was widely interpreted by students as not so much being a vote on making subfusc voluntary, but rather a vote on whether or not to effectively abolish it by default, as it was assumed that if a minority of people came to exams without subfusc, the rest would soon follow. See, for instance, this article in the student press[2]. The defeat of this motion showed clear support throughout the Oxford student body for the retention of the subfusc tradition.
Components of Oxford academic dress
Gowns
The gowns in use in Oxford can be divided into two basic shapes. All gowns are open-fronted, except for the Doctors' convocation habit which is closed at the front.
Clerical-type gowns
- Scholar's gown
- BA gown
- MA gown
- Doctors' full dress gown
- Doctors' convocation habit
- Proctors' dress gown
The clerical-type gown has no collar, but instead has the voluminous material of its back and sleeves gathered into a yoke.
Gowns of the same basic shape are worn by barristers (see court dress), preachers and bishops in the Church of England.
Lay-type gowns
- Commoners' gown
- Graduate students' gown
- Higher faculties bachelors' laced gown
- Doctors' undress laced gown
- Chancellor's gold laced gown
The lay-type gown derives from a garment fashionable in Elizabethan times. It is less voluminous than the clerical-type gown, and has a flap collar and long closed sleeves with arm slits just above the elbow.
Gowns of the same basic shape are worn by solicitors, Queen's Counsel, court ushers, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Lord Chancellor.
Hoods
Hoods in Oxford are of three shapes. Doctors (except Doctors of Clinical Psychology) and Bachelors of Divinity wear hoods in the Oxford full shape, scarlet in the case of doctors and black in the case of Bachelors of Divinity. All other hoods can be either in the Burgon shape or the Oxford simple shape, though some are traditionally made in one shape or the other.
Generally hoods are worn by graduates whenever subfusc is worn, but sometimes they are worn with an ordinary tie, e.g. by a lecturer at a public lecture.
Academic caps
Men wear a mortarboard (also known as a square or trencher cap), which is not worn indoors, except by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Proctors. When meeting the Vice-Chancellor, Proctors, or other senior official of the university in the street, it is traditional for a man to touch or raise his cap. In practice few people wear their caps nowadays, and instead carry their caps on occasions where caps are required.
Women may choose between the mortarboard or the soft cap. The soft cap is not removed indoors, although the mortarboard may now be removed or left on indoors at the wearer's discretion.
Doctors in the lay faculties (i.e. those except Divinity and Philosophy) wear Tudor bonnets, which are round and made of velvet.
Subfusc
Subfusc comes from the Latin for "of a dark/dusky colour", and refers to the clothes worn with full academic dress in Oxford. Generally, this means, for men:
- Dark suit.
- Black socks and shoes.
- White shirt and collar.
- White bow tie.
For women:
- White blouse.
- Black tie.
- Black skirt or trousers.
- Black stockings or tights.
- Black shoes.
- Dark coat (if desired).
In addition, doctors in the higher faculties and senior university officials wear bands, such as those worn with legal court dress.
Members of Her Majesty's Forces may wear their service uniform with gown and hood (for graduates) in place of sub-fusc. On occasion uniform swords are worn. Persons in Holy Orders may wear their clerical dress instead of subfusc.
Subfusc is worn at matriculation, at university examinations and degree ceremonies and at Encaenia. During exams, candidates often also wear a carnation in their buttonholes: white normally, pink for the penultimate and red for the final examination. Alternatively current students will sometimes wear carnations in the following order: white for the first exam, pink thereafter, red for the last. However, this is not the traditional order.
A number of myths surround subfusc and its use in examinations - for example, that sub fusc has a counterpart in 'full fusc', said to be a full suit of armour, which if worn to Finals examinations automatically results in a student being given a First; or the claim that one enterprising undergraduate examined the University statutes prior to an examination and discovered that all students sitting exams in subfusc are entitled to a glass of sherry. He demanded his due in the exam, and the University's Proctors duly responded, before fining him one shilling for failing to wear his sword, allegedly also part of the archaic statutes. According to [3], this latter story is untrue, and has been circulating in various forms (sometimes attributed to Cambridge) since at least the late 1950s.
Student dress
Undergraduates
Commoners (i.e. those without a scholarship or exhibition) wear a short black lay-type gown which just covers the suit jacket. The gowns have a flap collar and instead of sleeves have two streamers adorned with folds. These are the remnants of closed sleeves, as can still be seen on the laced gowns of the higher faculties.
Scholars (and some exhibitioners) wear a black clerical-type gown down to the knee. The gowns are gathered at the yoke, and have bell sleeves to the elbows (in effect they are short versions of the BA gown).
Until the abolition of their statuses in the nineteenth century, gentlemen-commoners and noblemen-commoners each had distinct gowns, generally of coloured silk in the lay shape, decorated with lace.
Undergraduates and mortarboards
It is often claimed that undergraduates by custom do not wear their caps. This is incorrect. Like all other male members of the university other than the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Proctors, male undergraduates must remove their caps indoors. Out of doors, caps may be worn, but it is customary to touch or raise one's cap as a salute to senior university or college officers. Undergraduates may not wear their mortar boards until their graduation ceremony.Deans may impose fines if this rule is violated. The mortar board or cap must be carried underneath the arm.
It is also only in recent years that female undergraduates have been permitted to remove their mortarboards during university ceremonies. As mentioned earlier, women who opt for the traditional women's soft cap still do not have this dispensation, and should remain covered at all times.
Undergraduates appearing before the Proctors' Court are required to present themselves wearing their caps and to salute the Proctors in the customary manner upon entering. They are then usually invited to remove their caps for the remainder of the proceedings.
Postgraduates
Graduate students who do not already have an Oxford degree wear a black lay-type gown that is a full-sized version of the commoner's gown, reaching to the knee. However, they are not worn by graduates of other universities who are reading for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, who wear a commoner's or scholar's gown as appropriate. Nor are they worn by non-members of the University reading for diplomas, who wear no gown, even with sub-fusc. In practice, many graduate students wear the academic dress of their old university except at those occasions where "foreign" academic dress is prohibited, such as the Encaenia and the second half of degree ceremonies when the graduand pays his respects to the Vice-Chancellor in the dress of his new Oxford degree.
Graduate dress
See also Degrees of the University of Oxford.
BA and MA
The two most common graduate gowns in Oxford are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) gowns, which are worn by new graduates of whatever subject. The degree of Masters of Arts is granted to BA graduates at a degree ceremony no sooner than 21 terms after matriculation.
The BA gown is a long black clerical-type gown with long bell-shaped sleeves to the wrists. The gown is gathered at the yoke. The MA gown is similar to the BA gown, except that the long sleeves are squared and closed at the ends, with a crescent cut out of each sleeve-end, and a horizontal slit just above the elbow for the arm to pass through.
The hoods are as follows:
- MA — black silk edged and lined with crimson / shot crimson silk
- BA — black silk half lined and bound with white rabbit fur (imitation)
Undergraduate degrees awarded to those on certain 4-year courses in the sciences (M.Eng., M.Phys., M.Chem., M.Biochem., M.Math., M.EarthSc.) wear BA gowns and hoods until 21 terms from matriculation, after which they become entitled to wear the MA dress automatically without an additional degree ceremony.
Doctors
Doctors in Oxford have three forms of academic dress: undress, full dress and convocation dress.
The undress gown in the lay faculties is a black lay-type gown with a flap collar and closed sleeves, decorated with black silk lace, . The gown may be worn with a doctor's hood, which is scarlet lined with coloured silk:
- DM, DCL — scarlet cloth (full shape) lined with crimson silk
- DLitt, DSc — scarlet cloth (full shape) lined with grey silk
- DPhil — scarlet cloth (full shape) lined with dark blue silk
The full dress gown is a scarlet clerical-type gown, with open bell-shaped sleeves and gathered at the yoke. The sleeves and facings are in the appropriate coloured silk. The full dress gown of Doctors of Music is exceptional (see below). Full dress gowns are normally worn with sub-fusc, but never with a hood.
The convocation habit or chimere is like a scarlet full-dress gown, except in that it has no sleeves, is fully lined with silk of the appropriate colour, and closed at the front. It is worn over the black undress gown, with the sleeves of the undress gown pulled through the armhole of the chemir. It is always worn with white tie, bands and hood. A similar garment (in scarlet or black) is worn over a white rochet by bishops in the Church of England e.g. when sitting in the House of Lords.
Lay higher faculties
Members with postgraduate bachelors or masters degrees in the lay higher faculties (i.e. those other than Divinity or Arts) wear gowns almost identical to the lay doctors' undress gowns.
The hoods of bachelors and masters of the lay higher faculties are as follows:
- MCh — black silk edged and lined with dark blue silk
- BM BCh, BCL — steel blue silk half lined and bound with white rabbit fur (imitation)
- MLitt, MSc — light blue silk edged and lined with grey silk
- BLitt, BSc (no longer awarded) — light blue silk half lined and bound with white rabbit fur (imitation)
- BMus — lilac silk half lined and bound with white rabbit fur (imitation)
- MPhil, BPhil — dark blue silk edged and lined with white silk
Divinity
Bachelors and doctors of Divinity, unlike their counterparts in the other higher faculties, do not wear the black silk laced gown but wear a black undress gown of the clerical type, identical to the MA gown, but in silk rather than stuff. This is worn with a cassock, cincture and scarf.
Doctors of divinity also have the scarlet full dress gown and the scarlet convocation habit, which is worn over the black silk gown.
The hoods in the faculty of divinity are as follows:
- DD — scarlet cloth (full shape) lined with black silk
- BD — black silk (full shape) lined with black silk
Doctors of Music
Doctors of music have no convocation habit, as this degree (as well as that of Bachelor of Music) was open to those who were not members of Convocation. The degree is known to have existed since the early 16th century, and seems to have originally used the same robes as Doctors of Medicine, on the rare occasions when this was necessary. However, since the beginning of the 17th century, Doctors of Music have worn gowns of white or cream damask or brocade, with facings and sleeve-linings of cherry-red silk being present since at least the late 18th century: the latter are shown in a 1792 plate by Charles Grignion.
Today, the full dress gown is made of cream silk brocade with apple blossom embroidery, with cherry silk sleeves and facings. The hood worn with the undress gown is of the same materials:
- DMus — cream apple blossom silk brocade (full shape) lined with cherry silk.
Other masters' and bachelors' degrees
The newer masters degrees follow with the silk gown of the lay higher faculties, and the following hoods:
- MBA — claret silk edged and lined with dark blue silk
- MSt — deep green silk edged and lined with white silk
- MEd (no longer awarded) — black silk edged and lined with green silk
- MTh — black silk edged and lined with magenta silk
Holders of the MJur degree wear the BCL hood. Holders of the undergraduate masters' degrees wear the BA gown and hood until the 21st term from matriculation, when they wear the MA gown and hood.
The newer bachelors' degrees follow with the stuff gown of the BA, and the following hoods:
- BFA — black silk with a narrow band of gold silk
- BEd (no longer awarded) — black silk with a narrow band of green silk
- BTh — black silk with a narrow band of magenta silk.
University officials
The Chancellor
The Chancellor of the University is elected for life by the Convocation (i.e. the alumni with degrees) of the University. He wears on ceremonial occasions a black silk lay-type gown with a long train, decorated with gold lace, similar to the gowns of the Lord Chancellor and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Chancellor's mortarboard has a gold tassel, like that of the former noblemen commoners. In undress he wears the DCL dress or undress gown. In Oxford he always wears white tie and bands.
The Vice-Chancellor
Previously Vice-Chancellors had no distinctive dress, but instead wore the convocation habit if they were doctors or the MA gown and hood if they were not. When Dr John Hood, a non-MA from outside the Congregation of the University, was appointed Vice-Chancellor in 2005, a new lay-type gown was designed for him, being black with simple gold trimming. He always wears white tie and bands.
Proctors
The two proctors in Oxford are responsible for the discipline of junior members of the university. In addition they have various ceremonial and administrative roles.
In Oxford the proctors wear white tie and bands, and a black clerical-type gown of the doctors’ full dress pattern with sleeves and facings of blue velvet. A hood fully lined with miniver is worn turned inside out so that only the fur is visible. This was formerly the full dress of the M.A.. On their undress M.A. gown they have a tippet, or small pouch, sewn to the yoke, which they keep for life.
In both Oxford and Cambridge the Proctors could formerly be seen patrolling the streets after dark with the university police, or bulldogs, who wore top hats in Cambridge and bowler hats in Oxford.
The Assessor
Previously the Assessor wore an MA gown with a tippet sewn onto the yoke. He now wears a Proctor's dress gown with purple instead of blue velvet sleeves.
Bedels
The university bedels, or mace-bearers after their ceremonial function in formal processions, wear plain black lay-type gowns and Tudor bonnets, and white tie and bands.
References
- Shaw, George W. (1995), Academical Dress of British and Irish Universities. Chicester: Philmore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-85033974-X
- Venables, D.R. & Clifford, R.E. (1998). Academic Dress of the University of Oxford. Oxford: OUP. ISBN 0-9521630-0-4
External links
- Oxford University Academic Dress Regulations.
- Shepherd and Woodward — a shop in Oxford selling academic dress — contains pictures of various gowns.