Graduation cap and gown?

Dave!

Hey folks,

my sister is graduating soon and the college isn't organising a thing (not even a photographer FFS), but her class want to get caps and gowns.

Does anyone know where these are being sold/rented ? The only formal clothing place I know of is Black Tie, lol, but they don't have them.

Cheers

hunnymonster

AFAIK, the entitlement to wear academic dress comes from the college/univeristy etc. The class cannot just decide they want to wear it. There are all sorts of rules and regulations depending on the institution so she should really talk to them about it. I know it's elitest but there is a lot of hard work goes into gaining the entitlement so in some ways I like it.

europerson

What sort of college is in question?

Villaricos

I think Hunnymonster is right, academic dress is quite regulated and if the college isnt arranging robes then your sister may not be able to wear them. I know the place UCD and a few others use is very much done through the college.

It may seem elitist but there is meaning behind academic dress

Pythia

I got

http://www.mcginleygowns.com/

and

https://secure.phelanconan.com/index.htm

pretty quickly from google.

spinandscribble

it shouldnt be about the get up. its about the work you put in and the standard of degree. or is it a dip?

red_ice

Her college will supply her with what ever it is she is graduating from. Depending on your qualification you get a certain colour/shape/style scarf type thing. Certs get a scarf that sits on their left or right shoulder, degrees get a scarf that attaches the two shoulders via the back of the neck. Lecturers and past alumni get their college colours and 'rank' as such when they are presant.

The robs are given out as standard on the day generally, and i dont think we do the cap thing here in ireland, we didnt do it on my graduation anyways, and i have yet to see a photo with someone and the 4 point cap graduating.

Graduations for colleges are a momentus occation, so they have to make everyone look the same and continue a trend for the books.

All she has to do is show up in her smart clothing and get covered up by a big heavey robe and tea towel thingy

Nala

red_ice wrote:

The robs are given out as standard on the day generally, and i dont think we do the cap thing here in ireland, we didnt do it on my graduation anyways, and i have yet to see a photo with someone and the 4 point cap graduating.

I graduated (university, degree) a couple of weeks ago and we had caps.

BC

I got a cap when I graduated from both my degree and my masters.

Different Faculties also have different scarves on the gown.

europerson

It really depends on the institution in question. Here (PDF) is the relevant information on gowns, hoods, etc. for the University of Dublin (Trinity College). It gives some idea of the complexity of the issue.

dirtydress

I graduated there at the start of september and PhelanConan arranged our robes (http://www.phelanconan.com) however they were arranged by UCD so im not sure about getting a general robe. We had a class colours which was shown with the hood part so that will depend on the course etc...might be worth getting on to them anyway and see if they can arrange something?

red_ice

BC wrote:

I got a cap when I graduated from both my degree and my masters.

Nala wrote:

I graduated (university, degree) a couple of weeks ago and we had caps.

Did you rent them yourselves?

maxi-twist

Remember, women wear caps as that is the limit to what they can reach. Men dont wear caps as they have no limit.

Thats probably a lie though!

europerson

maxi-twist wrote:

Remember, women wear caps as that is the limit to what they can reach. Men dont wear caps as they have no limit.

Thats probably a lie though!

That depends on the awarding institution.

Nala

red_ice wrote:

Did you rent them yourselves?

No the college organised it.

Pythia

red_ice wrote:

The robs are given out as standard on the day generally, and i dont think we do the cap thing here in ireland, we didnt do it on my graduation anyways, and i have yet to see a photo with someone and the 4 point cap graduating.

In UCD all the girls wear caps, the boys don't. It's given out to every girl and isn't seperate.
I could show you my own graduation photo with my 4 point cap but I'm not putting it up for everyone to see!

In fact, I'm watching the news and can see graduates wearing caps and gowns now in a news bulletin.

Seraphina

yep, if the college isn't organising it, she probably isn't entitled to wear it

its a formal tradition and to do with the level of education received, you can't just decide you want a cap and gown.

dudara

Pythia wrote:

In UCD all the girls wear caps, the boys don't. It's given out to every girl and isn't seperate.

I wore the mortarboard when I graduated from my degree. When I graduated from my PhD I didn't wear the velvet cap. I think that I was the only woman there who didn't.

As for academic gowns, they are prescribed by the academic institution, especially if it is an established institution. My PhD robes were red, and if I was ever to lecture in another university/college, I am entitled to wear my UCC robes there. Tradition eh? One of my lecturers got his PhD in an English uni and had a lovely set of wines robes.

The colours (sometimes called a cap) that you wear will come from your faculty/school. I wore blue and green first time, and red and green on the second time as my degree and PhD came from different faculties. There's a lot of tradition embedded in it all.

parsi

In UL the girls got the mortar boards. IIRC i was the same in DCU.

dame

Seraphina wrote:

yep, if the college isn't organising it, she probably isn't entitled to wear it

its a formal tradition and to do with the level of education received, you can't just decide you want a cap and gown.

Agreed. Did your sister and her class give up on that idea OP?

aodh_rua

dudara wrote: »

and red and green on the second time as my degree and PhD came from different faculties. There's a lot of tradition embedded in it all.

I think the PhD colour scheme is always red (or scarlet) for the PhD with the other colour representing the university. In your case the green was for the NUI, while in Trinity it's gold for the University of Dublin.

Toto Wolfcastle

I wore the cap at my graduation, but I know of some women who wont wear it because of its history. I proudly wore mine knowing that I wasn't 'capped', that I was going on to do a post-grad. I never realised there were so many rules though!!

Jim_No.6

maxi-twist wrote: »

Remember, women wear caps as that is the limit to what they can reach. Men dont wear caps as they have no limit.

Thats probably a lie though!

See if you can find a reference for that. No? That's because you're spouting a baseless urban myth!

Good old Wiki claims that men stopped wearing them in protest of the admission of women to various Irish and English Universities. I'd be much more likely to believe something like that - but see if you can disprove me

Stargal

Jim_No.6 wrote: »

See if you can find a reference for that. No? That's because you're spouting a baseless urban myth!

Good old Wiki claims that men stopped wearing them in protest of the admission of women to various Irish and English Universities. I'd be much more likely to believe something like that - but see if you can disprove me

No, you're almost definitely right. I checked this out before I graduated from my undergraduate degree because I didn't fully believe the whole 'cap on education' thing, so I asked one of the pro-chancellors of my college (Trinity) about it. He suggested the same reason that you did, but also said that it could be because there may originally have been a religious element to the ceremony (for instance, a short prayer in Latin is said at the TCD graduations) so women may have had to keep their heads covered for that reason.

Girls who don't wear it because they consider it a 'cap on education' are idiots who are basing their decision on uninformed hearsay. Instead, I see it as recognition of the fight that women had to go through to gain admittance to college in the first place.

highlight100

There is a place in Ballymount that does rentals,they are called Armstrong and Oxford.Might be worth a call.