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Oxford University Doctors (D.PHIL) Gown

Oxford University D.PHIL Gown ( No Hood required)

A full scarlet robe available in polyester or wool with bell-shaped sleeves, of which the body is made from scarlet cloth with facings and sleeves of blue silk or art silk.

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£ 149.99 – £ 449.99

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• Academic Hood Colors List

Official Degree Color Chart

This Academic Hood Colors List serves an important function for your set of graduation Academic Regalia (hood, tam, and gown). The regalia hood colors typically include four sections: shell fabric, velvet edge, satin field, and satin chevron. The color of the velvet edge is determined using this official degree color chart . That velvet edge hood color, sometimes known as Academic Regalia Inter-Collegiate Colors, represents your specific degree or discipline. The satin field and chevron (the hood lining colors) represent your university or college school colors. The overall size and shape represents the type of degree: bachelor's, master's, or doctoral (with the narrow end getting progressively longer with the higher ranking degrees). Finally, the fabric shell color simply matches the fabric color of the graduation gown, which is usually black but sometimes is another color depending on the degree-granting institution. Associate degrees use a special cowl instead of a hood. Below is the official academic regalia hood color list. Your academic hood colors are ultimately the decision of your degree-granting institution and you. However, these are the official academic regalia colors.

See the footnote for PhD degrees, rules regarding multiple degrees, and determining your field and chevron colors.

Academic Regalia Inter-Collegiate Colors

* In determining your academic regalia colors, please note the following: All PhD degrees (as opposed to Doctorate degrees) use "PhD Blue", which is dark blue, in the academic colors. For example, a Doctorate in Psychology would include in your academic hood colors the color Gold, however a PhD in Psychology would use dark blue. If you are unsure if your degree is a Doctorate or PhD, please contact your administrative advisor to determine your precise degree title and academic regalia hood colors.

If you have multiple degrees , the rule is that you use only one hood, and only one degree/discipline color. You use the hood and color that represents your highest ranking degree (with Doctoral as highest, Masters as second highest, Bachelors as third highest, and Associate as the lowest). If you have two different degrees at the same highest ranking degree, you generally use the most recently awarded degree as your hood.

If you have an unlisted degree , there is no official color and it is dependant on the individual college or university to determine the color to be used for your hood. Typically, the most similar degree on the official chart is chosen. For example, if your degree is in an advance computer science field, usually the school chooses Science Gold for the degree color.

Hood Lining Colors (Field and Chevron)

The above list describes only your velvet colors. There are three additional colors that typically go into your hood. They are the shell fabric (usually black, but sometimes the color of your robe if your robe is a special color that your university uses), and the lining colors.

Hoods are lined with the official color or colors of the college or university conferring the degree. More than one color is shown by division of the field color in a variety of ways. Most schools divide the color by using a single chevron. Occasionally, a school might use more than one chevron, no chevron but instead a single field color, an equal division, a reverse chevron, a straight bar, or other methods. While Academic Apparel can make any variety of hood, please note that the online ordering system assumes a single field and a single standard chevron. For other unusual types of hoods, you will have to use our downloadable fax forms.

Starlight Washable Satin (for hood school colors - Professional Style Hoods Only )

* Indicates a color not yet available in washable satin. These are instead substituted with acetate satins, which must be dry cleaned.

Polyester Taffeta (for hood school colors - Verona Style Hoods Only )

The official "Academic Costume Code and Academic Ceremony Guide" includes a sentence that reads as follows: "The various academic costume companies maintain complete files on the approved colors for various institutions."

Once upon a time long ago, that sentence was correct. However, that was before colleges started springing up across the nation at a rapid rate in the last 50 years or so, and before institutions started the practice of changing their hood colors depending on style or taste or the desires of the student body or economics for bulk manufacturing (sometimes even on a yearly basis).

We are the direct manufacturer of academic regalia.  This means one good thing and one bad thing (from your perspective). 

The good thing is our prices are significantly lower than your degree-granting university would charge to sell them to you, yet the quality is the same or better than what they offer.  That's because we are a relatively lean organization, independent, with over 60 years of experience, and we do not pay sales representatives, or have retail stores, or have a large advertising and marketing budget.

The bad thing is we cannot keep up with the changes each university makes to their regalia each year, and therefore require that our customers make their own inquiries to their degree-granting universities to discover what the current regalia colors are supposed to be for that school before placing an order.

We suggest you find out in advance of ordering what your school colors are, and which goes in the field and which goes in the chevron of the hood. You might also ask the following additional information: 1) whether they use 6 or 8 sides for their tam (if you are buying a tam); 2) whether they use a tam or a mortarboard for a Master's degree (if you are inquiring about a master's gown regalia set); 3) whether they use the standard black for the gown and hood shell color or if they have a special color; 4) whether they use an embroidered school emblem or symbol on the gown velvet an dif so what it looks like (these are fairly rare, but a few schools use them); 5) and if there is anything special about the regalia not covered by those questions. 

Generally the best source for this information is the University book store or student store. Someone at most bookstores has all of this information.

You should know that you have the right to purchase your gown from any manufacturer, and not just the company that has a contract with your university. By getting this information on your own and purchasing your regalia from Academic Apparel, you will be saving money, and getting a regalia set that looks at least as good as what your school offers, and often it looks and feels significantly better than the bulk manufactured chinese gowns many colleges are now selling (and ours will last longer than those gowns too).

While we would really like to help you obtain this information, and hope to some day send out surveys each year to each university asking for this data, it is beyond our abilities to do so right now. If you are willing to do the footwork to find this information out, we know you will get a superb robe, hood, and tam from us, at prices that cannot be beat.

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REGALIA STYLE FILES: LOOKING GOOD SINCE 1096

Penn Arts and Sciences faculty wear robes rooted in medieval tradition.

College graduation day looks strikingly similar to graduation days of yore, with soon-to-be grads filling Franklin Field wearing black undergraduate robes and tasseled mortarboards. Faculty, wearing the robes and hoods from their graduate institutions, are a more vibrant group. Penn’s red and blue doctoral robes mingle with Harvard’s crimson and Columbia’s pale blue. An Oxford robe might appear, and hats of all shapes, sizes, and levels of puffiness adorn the scholars’ heads. This could be 2017, 1717, or 1117— academic dress has a history dating to medieval Europe.

Academic dress in the United States and Europe, also known as regalia, can be traced back to traditions begun by Oxford University (founded, by best estimates, in 1096), University of Cambridge (founded 1209), and Portugal’s University of Coimbra (founded 1290). When scholars wore robes and hoods in drafty libraries, hoods weren’t for decoration. They were to be worn as hoods. When hoods transitioned from functional to decorative, scholars began to add hats, and styles differ across  institutions  and countries. Square, flat caps become common in Britain, while French scholars adopted a fluted, pillbox style cap ( très chic ) and Spanish academics took a cue from Roman Catholic clerical dress and wore four-peaked, square hats called birettas.

The first U.S. universities were firmly rooted in the European tradition. However, while European universities generally set their own customs, U.S. academic dress is more standardized. Penn created internal standards for regalia in 1887; in 1895, that system was abandoned when representatives from leading academic  institutions  in the U.S. established a code to regulate the cut, color, style, and materials of the gowns. Additional adjustments to the code were made in 1932, and that was that.

From 11th-century scholars shivering by a fire to a parade of gowns at Franklin Field, wearing regalia has always symbolized academic achievement and commitment. Here, we take a look at some Penn Arts and Sciences professors, partying like it’s 1096.

Larry Silver , James and Nan Wagner Farquhar Professor of History of Art

Silver wears Harvard’s crimson robes, but the real story here is the mace he’s wielding. Like regalia, ceremonial maces have a long history. The earliest ceremonial maces were carried in royal processions and doubled as weapons. By the 14th century, maces were increasingly decorative and used in civic and academic processions.

The University mace Silver carries was a gift of the family of William Murray Gordon, M.D. 1910. It is adorned with the seal and arms of the University, the William Penn and Benjamin Franklin family coats-of-arms, a depiction of the Rittenhouse Orrery, and a thistle symbolizing the early ties of the University with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Each year, the Dean of Penn Arts and Sciences invites a retiring professor to hold the mace at the College graduation. The invited professor is someone who has made a mark on undergraduate education in his or her time at the School. Silver, retiring after 20 years in the History of Art department, says he had fun as the mace-bearer and adds, “It’s lighter than it looks!”

Karen Redrobe , Elliot and Roslyn Jaffe Endowed Professor in Film Studies and Chair of History of Art 

Redrobe wears the Princeton II regalia, which follows U.S. conventions set in 1895 and confirmed in 1932. An older, European-style regalia is also available to Princeton grads. In addition, she wears traditional, brightly colored boots—traditional to her, anyway.

“I bought those boots as a present to myself after my own Ph.D. graduation,” she says. “The Ph.D. is an extremely challenging degree; like academic life in general, doing it well requires an immense amount of stamina. I think it is important to remember the great joy that deep learning can bring, especially at these moments of completion. That’s part of what the boots are about for me. They are extremely uncomfortable, so I don’t wear them often, but I wear them every graduation both to remind myself of the trepidation and excitement you feel when you step out into the world with your new Ph.D., and to express sartorial solidarity with the queer community at graduation through my rainbow feet. As a bonus, rainbows happen to pair very well with orange.”

Justin McDaniel ,   Professor and Chair of Religious Studies (left), and  Ralph Rosen ,   Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities and Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Classical Studies (right)

McDaniel and Rosen also wear Harvard’s crimson robes. Most universities use the color of the hood to indicate a graduate’s field of study, but Harvard does things a little differently. All Harvard gowns have a set of embroidered crow’s feet on the chest; the color of the feet reflects the school from which the wearer graduated. Though McDaniel and Rosen are from different disciplines, the blue crow’s feet on their gowns indicate that they both graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

In this photo, McDaniel might be pondering what to add to the syllabus next time he teaches Existential Despair, a Benjamin Franklin Seminar.

Philip Rea , Professor of Biology and Rebecka and Arie Belldegrun Distinguished Director, Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management

Rea wears the unchanged-for-500-years robes of Oxford University. That’s right, Oxford boasts that the last modifications to their academic dress were made back in the 16th century. He demonstrates a major difference between European and U.S. regalia: European regalia is often worn open. He also demonstrates that even with centuries of practice, Oxford hasn’t quite achieved wrinkle-proof robes.

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw , Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of History of Art

Shaw wears Stanford’s multicolored regalia. You might notice that her robes, with color blocking and lack of velvet bars, are more similar to Rea’s Oxford dress than to those worn by graduates of other U.S. institutions. That’s because Stanford modeled their dress on the University of Cambridge, another oldie but goodie.

Victor H. Mair , Professor of Professor and Undergraduate Chair of East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Mair went to Harvard, but he doesn’t wear crimson robes for special occasions. Instead, his regalia comes from The Education University of Hong Kong, from which he received an honorary Doctor of Humanities in 2010. Like Rea and Shaw, Mair wears robes influenced by the European style. He also demonstrates a variation in academic headgear. If Mark Twain is right that clothes make the man, it’s fair to say that hats make the academic.

By Lauren Rebecca Thacker

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We work hard to ensure that our hoods precisely match university regulations and those manufactured by other suppliers. Fabrics are custom dyed to match university colours and we use a broad variety of fabric finishes and weights so our customers blend in seamlessly.

Each graduation gown we make is made from 70% recycled polyester which is manufactured from recycled plastic waste. This is then blended with 30% viscose for a soft finish. Every graduation gown contains a minimum of 550g of recycled plastic waste, which equates to at least 28 500ml plastic bottles. The final result is a soft fabric that looks and feels like gowns made by any other supplier.

Our mortarboards are made from a soft black felt material with a ribbon finish arround the base of the cap. A flexible cap and 'secure fit' elastic inside the headband ensure all of our mortarboards are a comfortable fit and stay in place on your graduation day.

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"Made-to-Order" Doctoral Regalia Set

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Product Details

• Custom PhD gown that perfectly fits you and meets university specifications
• Every inch is handmade and tailored with remarkable craftsmanship
• Made-to-Order takes 6-8 weeks to deliver and  all Made-to-Order regalia cannot be exchanged or returned
• Finest-quality *color of your choice*  doctoral gown with two side pockets decorated with velvet front and sleeve panels with piping
• Doctoral hood embellished with *color of your choice*  satin linings 
• Adjustable 6-sided or 8-sided *color of your choice* velvet tam with gold silk tassel
• Serve doctorates and faculty from Carnegie Mellon | Connecticut | Drexel | Illinois | Notre Dame | North Carolina | Pennsylvania | Penn State | Ohio State | Washington and more!
• View  Size chart  for how to measure shoulder width, head size, etc.
• FREE  garment bag to protect your doctoral regalia

Customer Reviews

PHinisheD Gown makes a FANTASTIC product. They also contacted me directly to make sure I was getting the best deal in a timely fashion.

Good quality robe and fits nicely. Gets the job done…

Thank you for the custom doctoral hood. The colors matched my university's very well and, more importantly, it is a very high quality hood and it reminds me how this regalia was actually standard dress for faculty once upon a time. I purchased my gown, hood, and tam from Phinished and can imagine how these garments could be daily garb. Thank you for the care you put in to tailoring this regalia and appreciating the work we put in to Phinishing these degrees.

I ordered a gown for the University of Notre Dame - since someone had done this previously, they already had the school emblems that go on the front panels. (If you're also at ND, you'll want to order the gown with embroidery, and 8-sided tam. I believe colors are royal blue and gold). I can't verify that the gown is identical to the official one because I live elsewhere and am not attending commencement, but it looks and feels great. Way better deal than going through the university. They can be a bit slow over email, but once they respond, customer service is excellent.

These are excellent. The robe has buttons exactly where it is convenient for making everything hang properly. Love the pockets. Very fairly priced in comparison to other comparable robes (similar fabrics etc) and of comparable, if not better, quality. Regalia is a big, complicated, bulky garment - these hang nicely, the fabric feels nice, and they have nice finishing touches. Everything arrived well before graduation

Team was very communicative throughout the process and the final product looks terrific! Love that there are pockets :)

I had ordered the doctoral regalia so that I could participate in proper attire at the graduation ceremonies at my current institution. I am very happy with the PhinishedD gown. More importantly, the team rushed the delivery when things were running late so that I could get the regalia in time for the commencement ceremony in May. Thank you!

Thank you to the PhinisheD Gown team! My order arrived early and I love it! It was quite the journey getting finished with my doctorate- I appreciate this team for being one the final (and most important) steps!

Amazing job.

I was hesitant to get the custom regalia from a company other than the one contracted with the University. The new regalia is an unusual color and I specified the color on the order. It is a "olivey" shade of hunter green. Instead of contacting me when they didn't have the color, they made it in Emerald Green, which is definitely not right. Hunter green would have been close enough, but not emerald green. I had sent them pictures of the regalia as well, which was clearly not emerald. I tried to give them as much instruction as possible and they had my contact info if they had any questions. The quality of the regalia is beautiful, but I'm going to feel a bit embarrassed wearing it to commencement. At least I am faculty and won't be sitting next to numerous other people in the correct color.

I ordered a custom cap and gown set, and the finished product is beautifully crafted. They communicated well throughout the process, and shipping was fast. The order was delivered a few days early!

I am so pleased with my regalia — the materials and craft are beautiful and thoughtful. Beyond that, I specifically appreciate that it correctly fits my narrow shoulders without making it look like I’m a child playing dress-up (in the world of doctoral regalia this is a rarer quality than I previously knew, at least if you’re a petite woman!). I recommend PhinisheD highly. Thank you so much!

It was a great experience! Thank you so much!

The regalia offered by Phinished Gown is beyond compare. For a fraction of the price offered by other robe makers, they were able to deliver on their promise of high quality regalia. Mine was Custom made because of specific requests and Nol accomodated all, patiently. Will definitely recommend to colleagues and friends…

I ordered the custom regalia set for the University of North Carolina. It shipped just over a month after I ordered it. It is well-constructed, and all the details--down to the cording, braids, and embroidery--are spot on. And all for less than half the cost of the standard vendor!

PhinisheD Gown reached out several times after I ordered to confirm details, including sending sample pictures. The gown arrived last week and it is fantastic. Fits well, colors and quality are great, and I am so glad to finally have pockets in my regalia. Thanks - great company!

Great service and excellent quality! Very reasonably priced and comes with a garment bag that is very useful for storage. Quite happy with the product and service!

I received my regalia today and it's beautiful! They took care of every detail that I asked for and the price was much lower than I saw on other websites. Time from order to receipt was 8 weeks. Just plan ahead (order early) and you'll be pleased with the product.

Great service and excellent quality. And about 40% less from the competition price. I cannot wait to wear it at my next graduation ceremony!

I’m bigger than the average bear so I needed something custom. They came through in spades. They even accommodated a last minute update to the hood colors and still shipped on time. Great team!

PhinisheD Gown worked well with me in figuring out my size, colors, and getting the beautiful cap and gown to me in an expeditious manner. Thanks!

PhinisheD Gown did a really great job in making the gown for my PhD graduation. Everything was professionally done in a timely manner at a great low price 👍👍👍

Received my regalia order yesterday- I had high hopes, and they were exceeded! Beautiful, classy- and the beret is amazing, too! Can’t wait to wear this at my next faculty event. Thank you, PhinisheD Gown!

I ordered a custom open design gown for my regalia for UC. The quality is beyond amazing and the gown fits perfect based of the measurements. The cap and hood are also gorgeous material and quality. I can’t wait to wear it at graduation and I’m the future!

For my hooding, I rented the official regalia, but as a new faculty member I needed my own to wear a few times a year. I’m so glad I went with PhinisheD! The regalia arrived today, and I couldn’t be more pleased. The quality is better than the official regalia—the fabric is lighter and nicer to wear, the tam is overall just nicer with an attractive tassel and an option to adjust the size, and that’s not even to mention the pockets, which are wonderful. The gown even has the embroidered badges for my university—which I wasn’t expecting from an unofficial source. I don’t know if they’re able to do it for all institutions, but it was a lovely surprise! I’m so grateful to be able to spend a bit less and get a better gown—it would be worth it at a higher price. I’ll definitely be recommending to others!

Good quality, delivered on time

When I graduated with my PhD, my university didn’t give us the option of purchasing our regalia. I bought my regalia from PhinisheD Gown after earning a faculty position to wear to convocation and graduation ceremonies. Wearing this tam, gown, and hood feels 10x better than any other regalia I’ve worn! Oh, AND THE POCKETS ARE EVERYTHING!!! <3

Everything is top notch and very well made. Highly recommend.

Due to COVID, I didn’t get the chance to walk for my doctoral graduation. This was a gift from my parents and the custom PSU doctoral gown came out perfect! Every detail was immaculate and the fabric and embroidery was high quality. Highly recommend!

Admittedly, the ease in ordering online--and putting my other requests in a list on the comment box--made me nervous that I just donating a lot of money to just a costume. However, the surprisingly small box arrived over a week early, and I pulled out a beautiful (and unwrinkled!) gown, hood, and tam. The gown was protected in a bag and with a hanger. It wears very well--and it looks better than I thought it would. Each year, I've paid about 20% of the cost for renting regalia--I should have bought this years ago! I love love love that there are pockets!

The gown is excellent. There were facial masks in the pockets, which came as a pleasant surprise in this difficult time. Very happy.

When I received my doctoral regalia from my school I was seriously disappointed. Cheaply made and I felt after my years of hard work getting my PhD I deserved to wear something that looked as good as I felt. So, I searched the web and found Phinished Gown and read their reviews...all good, so I chose to have them make mine. They did not disappoint! Jane was attentive and made sure that I got exactly what I ordered. When I opened up the package I almost cried...well, I did when I put it on. The materials used are so beautiful and it just looks and feels so good. I can't say enough about it. So happy I chose to order from them.

Good as expected

After learning about Phinished Gown through Reddit, I emailed Jane with a tall order: could it be possible to create a gown that fits both me at 5'4" and my husband at 6'0" since we both earned our PhDs from the same institution? She guided us by providing precise measurements for each of the Phinished Gown sizes, so we ordered one and hoped for the best. They were very receptive to feedback I had when we received the proof, and they were quick to correct a miscommunication we had about the ordering process. As for the gown, it magically looks great on both of us! Regarding the match to our university's official regalia at my graduation ceremony, there were some differences in the fabric type and color of the gown, the style of the piping, and the tam's tassel. However, I much preferred the overall look and fit of our Phinished Gown set, and the differences will be negligible when my husband uses as a faculty member at a different college. The pockets are a HUGE plus, too.

Overall, I would highly recommend Phinished Gown for your regalia needs. The product is high quality and the service is exceptional. I received many compliments, and for a savings of a few hundred dollars, I did not feel like we had received a bargain product at all. Thank you so much for making my Penn State regalia dreams come true!!

I decided to purchase my regalia this year, as the rental regalia provided at my current institution for faculty/staff participating in commencement is of the generic black type, and I very much wanted to wear my alma mater's colors - but the price of the "official" regalia was far too high! I was similarly hesitant to purchase "unofficial" regalia, since it can be hard to tell how good it would come out. Phinished Gown was recommended to me by one of my old classmates, who purchased a set for her new faculty job, and said it was outstanding. So I decided to go for it, and I couldn't be happier that I did. Jane took great care at making sure to have enough photos to be able to color match the custom set with our official regalia, and it came out very close - a bit lighter in color, but I actually much prefer it. The gown is perfectly tailored and is a nice fabric texture, and as others have written, it has pockets, a great feature. I received many compliments from other marshals at our commencement ceremony this year! Thanks for the amazing regalia, which I look forward to wearing for many years!

I was a bit hesitant to custom order the PhD set for the University of Washington. I was concerned the quality would not be as good or that there would be slight differences. I was wrong. I received a high quality, beautiful set that is identical to what I rented when I graduated a few years ago. The packaging was professional (they include a nice cover to keep the set protected and clean). I am very impressed especially because the price cannot be beat. Some places ask for ridiculous amounts. Not here. They are fair and deliver a high quality product. I highly recommend them and will share my experience with my colleagues. Almost forgot: they met the deadline and I received the set one week prior to attending my students’ graduation. Thank you!

PhinisheD Gown did not disappoint! My doctoral regalia was perfect and arrived before the expected delivery date. Even with a last minute order, the customer service was quick and efficient and the quality of my regalia was top-notch (at half the price!).

Through initial shock in the total costs of custom regalia from by University ($1,100), I was informed by a colleague/recent graduate that she used Phinished Gown the previous year and was 100% pleased. Reluctantly, I filled out the custom gown form, Jane and Nok did NOT disappoint! They ensured that the proof fo the gown was exactly what I wanted and matched my University's regalia for nearly half the price. Though the color is a bit lighter, the material is clearly high quality and the tam and hoods are quite beautiful! And most importantly...it has pockets!! I highly recommend Phinished Gown to anyone who wants to save money, but not on quality for their doctoral gown!

Fantastic! Great quality, thank you for stellar work.

Thank you. You are the best

Excellent customer attention

I had ordered a custom-sized PhD set and the folks at PhinisheD Gown reached out and confirmed I was fine with a standard sized product, saving me hundreds. That's great service. And Gown/Regalia look great. Thanks!

The gown looked great at graduation events this week! Thank you so much for doing an excellent job with it! It is extremely professionally made, and accurate to the school's regalia. Attached is a picture. Thanks again!

" Jane, I want to let you know that I received my gown this morning and it looks so elegant! Thank you for accommodating my order and producing such a high quality regalia with very perfect details! I really could not describe my admiration for everything about it!! Many thanks for making this life experience such a beautiful experience.

About Phinished Gown

We take pride in offering the highest quality regalia and great customer service. All the materials we use have been specifically chosen to closely match university designs and crafted into beautiful PhD regalia. We strive to make our doctoral regalia affordable to all PhD graduates so that you can celebrate your graduation day in style.

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Who has the Ugliest Academic regalia?

Discussion in ' Off-Topic Discussions ' started by little fauss , May 9, 2005 .

little fauss New Member

Just a little diversion now that most all of my work is done for my online coursework this semester. Has anyone ever chosen or ruled out a graduate program for a PhD on the basis of regalia? Has that ever been a criterion in the decision-making process? I'm considering PT online as well as FT B&M PhD programs for a doctorate in business admin/marketing for possible studies starting in 2006. One of the B&M programs I considered was UT-Dallas. We have friends there, it's not really too far away from my home state, and it's a decent PhD program in the same department as an MBA program that's ranked in the top 80 by USN and does both B&M studies and offers an online MBA that's known for catering to non-traditional students. So far, so good, seems like a perfect match in many ways. But then I happened to look at their PhD regalia: it's a hideous black, orange and green monstrosity that looks like it was designed by some kind of pop artist under heavy medication. I just don't think I could see myself donning that thing once or twice a year in front of students and colleagues and being snickered at behind my back. Am I just insufferably vain? So here goes my bottom 5 worst PhD regalia: 1. UT-DALLAS (see above) 2. TULANE - Fine school, but advocado and light blue? Are you kidding? You gotta see it to believe it. 3. STANFORD - What's that? The first time I saw faculty members dressed in that at a commencement I had to ask someone: "What kind of degree is that? A Masters? Where are the PhD stripes?" To be insanely intelligent and get in, then make it through and get your PhD, then to spend the rest of your commencements forevermore explaining your regalia to all but the most initiated is just unconscionable on Stanford's part. Give them three PhD stripes! 4. HAWAII - It's green with black velvet and white stripes. That's not so bad by itself, but the shade of green seems more appropriate to a gaudy golf shirt. How about a little subtlety? 5. HARVARD - It photographs better than it looks in person. That's not crimson, it's PINK folks! (well, maybe to be kind, it's magenta--bad enough). If you went to Harvard, you deserve better than dressing up for commencement looking like that. If you want to see some of these, Oak Hall and E.R. Moore have photos online of different uni's custom regalia. Does anyone know more places where such data and photos can be found? I welcome other contributions, and perhaps a list of best regalia as well.  

nosborne48 Well-Known Member

University of New Mexico is pretty bad; blinding bright colors and a Beefeater hat with a sort of corrogated brim... It showed up at about the same time as someone decided to give UNM law and medicine grads gold tassels...post hoc ergo propter hoc?  

Originally posted by nosborne48 University of New Mexico is pretty bad; blinding bright colors and a Beefeater hat with a sort of corrogated brim... It showed up at about the same time as someone decided to give UNM law and medicine grads gold tassels...post hoc ergo propter hoc? Click to expand...

Black velvet mortorboard, shiny (faux silk) black gown with black velvet sleeve stripes and facings, ugly gold tassel, purple faced Doctor's hood. We used to rent it, now they've got to buy a really chinzy looking plastic one time use gown and mortorboard. Sigh. How standards DO erode over time, to be sure!  

Originally posted by nosborne48 Black velvet mortorboard, shiny (faux silk) black gown with black velvet sleeve stripes and facings, ugly gold tassel, purple faced Doctor's hood. We used to rent it, now they've got to buy a really chinzy looking plastic one time use gown and mortorboard. Sigh. How standards DO erode over time, to be sure! Click to expand...

agilham New Member

STANFORD - What's that? The first time I saw faculty members dressed in that at a commencement I had to ask someone: "What kind of degree is that? A Masters? Where are the PhD stripes?" To be insanely intelligent and get in, then make it through and get your PhD, then to spend the rest of your commencements forevermore explaining your regalia to all but the most initiated is just unconscionable on Stanford's part. Give them three PhD stripes! Click to expand...

marilynd New Member

No doubt, little fauss, that you have singled out some of the worst offenders to the senses among US regalia. UT-Dallas is the worst hands down. The situation in person is even worse than you describe. The gown is black with green half sleeves and orange velvet stripes and panels. Add to this the hood. A PhD hood is dark blue velvet. Science is yellow gold, which would clash with the orange, of course. Whoever designed the UTD gown was on ecstasy or some other mind-altering substance. Actually, the half-sleeve design can work. Penn uses the same model, except that they have taste when it comes to colors. Like you, I don't much like Tulane or Hawaii, either. I do like the UNM gown, however. The Beefeater is a British doctoral cap, which dates I think from the 16th century. It was used by non-clerical doctors in fields such as law and medicine, I think. Now, it is used almost everywhere in the UK for doctoral dress. It looks weird to Americans, but at least it's different. I also don't much like the Nova Southeastern doctoral gown. The color scheme is alright, but I dislike the NSU embroidered on the panels. I looks cheap and unimaginative to me. The Stanford gown is a hibrid of the Oxford half-sleeve and the turned-back sleeve lining of the Cambridge higher doctoral gowns. I suppose if you have to pattern yourself after someone, Oxbridge would be a good choice. I like the Stanford gown because it is so different from most other US regalia. Actually, you were right the first time about Harvard. It's not magenta, it's pink. Actually, it's fuchia--hot pink. The color, which Harvard calls "crimson" (one of the great non-sequitors in the fashion world), works well for the black bachelor and master gowns. My master gown looks quite striking with its pink hood, and I usually get comments about it. When I saw the doctoral gown for the first time at the Harvard commencement, however, I was shocked. I suppose I'm a little shocked still, but over time, the gown has grown on me. UTD gets my vote for the worst in the US. However, there is one that I think is worse still: the doctoral dress from, if memory serves, Cranfield University in the UK. It is--ok, ok, wait for it--pink and light blue with a black Beefeater hat. I swear I start looking for the little car with five clowns in it everytime I see that outfit. marilynd  

Jack Tracey New Member

No offense to Brother Brian but this is fairly unattractive: http://www.siena.edu/Friary/BRBRIAN.htm Jack  

Originally posted by Jack Tracey No offense to Brother Brian but this is fairly unattractive: http://www.siena.edu/Friary/BRBRIAN.htm Jack Click to expand...

Yep. Worse than UNM. My heavens what an awful color scheme!  

Originally posted by agilham . . . and trust me when I say they've toned down the colour and the contrast. The Oxford DPhil gown is probably the most horrible clash of primary colours you'll ever see walking. Click to expand...

Hey, nosborne. eBay has a brand new law gown for London graduates. Item #5390545727 It could help keep you motivated. marilynd  

Originally posted by little fauss Does anyone know more places where such data and photos can be found? Click to expand...

Originally posted by little fauss I welcome other contributions, and perhaps a list of best regalia as well. Click to expand...

I agree with Notre Dame, excellent-looking gown, befitting the most famous Catholic institution (sorry B.C.), and RPI's looks awesome. I also like UT Austin's new regalia.  

Originally posted by nosborne48 Yep. Worse than UNM. My heavens what an awful color scheme! Click to expand...

Avocado? Is THAT what it is? Looks closer to guacamole, bit more white in it, maybe. Come to think of it, I've seen new sailors turn just about that color when things get a little rough... That's right, Newt was attached to Tulane, wasn't he? Well, like him or not, no one could say that he wasn't an accomplished man. A hypocrite, sure, but not unaccomplished.  

Tireman44 member

One of the my professors at North Carolina Wesleyan College, Dr Kenneth Finney, went to school with Newt at Tulane. Newt got his PhD in history one year ahead of Dr Finney. Gingrich's dissertation was Education in the Belgian Congo 1914- 1930. I believe I have the years right, but the title I remember. Dr Finney didnt speak much of Newt. He just kinda smiled when I brought him up.  

Originally posted by little fauss I also like UT Austin's new regalia. Click to expand...

Marylynd ( or anyone else), I need a fellow librarian's( or anyone else) help here. I am having problems finding this. I would like to see the University of Houston-Main Campus's doctoral gown. I know the company that use is Heriff-Jones, but cannot find a picture. I am looking for the social science gown. Thanks. I should( God willin' and the creek don't rise) graduate in May of 2008.  

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Borrow PhD regalia

Hello fellow buckeyes,

Just curious if I can borrow PhD regalia (Engineering) from anybody. I would be happy to buy you some nice things or buy you a gift card. $300 charged by B&N is too much for a tam, tassel, and renting a gown and a hood. I was excited about the commencement until I added up all the potential moving costs, new furniture cost, bed cost as well as the commencement cost. Please message me if you would like to help. I will keep the regalia in good condition and return to you the next day after commencement.

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