University

03 Apr 09

BA students wait outside the Sheldonian Theatre before their degree ceremony.

Academic dress has been an iconic part of student life at Oxford for hundreds of years and the roots of the gowns worn today can be traced back to the clerical robes worn by medieval students.

Although some changes were introduced by Protestant reformers in the 16th century, many developments in Oxford’s academic dress have taken place gradually and informally.

A new edition of ‘Academic Dress of the University of Oxford’, by John Venables, has just been published. It sets out, and illustrates, the rules of academic dress today, including the different gowns worn by holders of each degree and which official occasions call for full academic dress.

The circumstances in which gowns are worn have changed. Today, academic dress is compulsory at all formal ceremonies of the University and generally in the presence of high University officers, at matriculation (when being admitted to membership of the University) and at examinations.

In earlier times, undergraduates were additionally expected to wear their gowns to all lectures, tutorials, in the Bodleian Library and around the city. The slang term ‘Beaver’ was used by both Proctors and students to refer to not wearing a gown, and the register of fines in the 1920s shows this used to be a fairly common misdemeanor.

Simon Bailey, Keeper of the University Archives, said this rule evolved as the students at Oxford changed. 'After the Second World War, many undergraduates at Oxford were older, having returned from service in the forces. The rule prohibiting students from going into pubs and other licensed premises became increasingly difficult to justify and enforce and was abolished in 1949. This meant the proctors no longer needed to use gowns as a way of spotting disobedient undergraduates across crowded bars.’

One of the few times a conscious decision has been made to design and specify a part of academic dress was when Oxford granted full status to female students in 1920. Women wore, and continue to wear, the same gowns as men but a soft cap was designed especially for female students.

Students from Lady Margaret Hall helped the Proctor at that time, Reverend G B Allen, make a decision on the design of the cap. Christine Anson, one such LMH student and later a fellow of the College, recollected in a typed note in 1965: ‘The result was that about eight forms of cap were made… ranging from the hard cap down to something floppier than the one eventually chosen. These were assembled at the Clarendon Building and at a meeting which consisted, I assume, of the Vice-Chancellor, Proctors and five women Principals, two other Lady Margaret Hall undergraduates, one with long hair, Dora Butterworth, and one with short hair, Christine Anson, went in and out, trying on each cap in turn...’

The colour and material of gowns and hoods is now specified according to the role or degree held by the wearer, but prior to the sixteenth century Doctors could wear gowns and hoods of any colour: the Registers of the Chancellor’s Court at that time show there was a great variety including blue, green, scarlet and violet.

The gowns illustrated in the new book show the many variations on the plain black undergraduate, BA and Masters gowns. For example, Doctors of Music wear a robe of cream-coloured silk with apple blossom embroidery and cherry crimson silk sleeves and the Chancellor has an elaborate gown made from heavy black brocaded silk with gold lace trimmings on the collar, facings, back and sleeves, and on the long train.

The book costs £3.50 and is available from Shepherd and Woodward, 109–113 High Street, Oxford.

Left: The pianist and conductor, Daniel Barenboim, wears the Doctor of Music’s gown at Encaenia, the University’s honorary degree ceremony.