The academic dress of the United Kingdom and Ireland has a long history and has influenced the academic dress of Canada and the United States and beyond. The academic square cap was invented in the UK as well as the hood which developed from the lay dress of the medieval period.
Irish academic dress is virtually the same as that in the United Kingdom given the common history and proximity of each other. Many other Commonwealth countries also follow British cuts and design of academic dress, most notably Australia and New Zealand though some are beginning to evolve away from British cuts such as Canada, where the University of Toronto has slowly introduced American gowns that close at the front.
There is a distinction between different types of academic dress. Most recently, gowns, hoods and caps are categorised into their shape and patterns by what may be known as the Groves classification system, which is based on Nicholas Groves's document, Hood and Gown Patterns.The Burgon Society: The Design of Academical Dress (6 May 2007) Classification of Styles This lists the various styles or patterns of academic dress and assigns them a code or a Groves Classification Number. For example, the Cambridge BA style gown is designated [b2] and a hood in the Cambridge full-shape is designated [f1], etc. Because the universities are free to design their own academicals using a wide range of available gown, hood and cap patterns, colours and materials at their and the robemaker's disposal, the academicals of two given universities rarely clash with each other.
The Burgon Society was founded in 2000 to promote the study of academic dress.Burgon Society: Introduction (2 Nov 2008) It has publications and activities to do with academic dress and published an updated version of Shaw's book on British and Irish academical dress in 2012, with a second volume covering non-degree awarding bodies published in 2014.
Gown The modern gown is derived from the roba worn under the cappa clausa, a garment resembling a long black cape. In early medieval times, all students at the universities were in at least minor orders, and were required to wear the cappa or other clerical dress, and restricted to clothes of black or other dark colour.
The gowns most commonly worn, that of the clerical type gowns of Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA), are substantially the same throughout the English-speaking world. Both are traditionally made of black cloth, (although occasionally the gown is dyed in one of the university's colours) and have the material at the back of the gown gathered into a yoke. The BA gown has bell-shaped sleeves, while the MA gown has long sleeves closed at the end, with the arm passing through a slit above the elbow.Shaw (1995); pp. 4-7
There are two types of yokes that are used for gowns. The more traditional is the curved yoke, whilst the square or straight yoke is used more in modern times.
Another type of gown is called the lay type gown, which is similar to the MA gown in that it has long closed sleeves, but does not have a yoke. Instead, there is a flap collar with the gathers underneath it. Thus it is less voluminous than the clerical type gown. This gown is often used for the dress of officers and graduates of some degrees (especially at Oxford and Durham).
In the Commonwealth, gowns are worn open, while in the United States it has become common for gowns to close at the front, as did the original roba.
Some gowns may have 'strings' (i.e. grosgrain ribbons) attached to them behind the lapels. These in the past were tied together to hold the gown together but are now merely indicators of rank, such as in Cambridge where strings indicate one is a graduate of the university (rather than a graduate student whose undergraduate degree was awarded at a different institution), or just for decoration.
Dress and undress gowns
Since medieval times, doctors, like bishops and cardinals, have been authorised to wear garments of brighter colours such as scarlet, purple or red. In many older universities, doctors have scarlet dress gowns or robes (sometimes called "festal robes") which are worn on special occasions. There are two distinctive shapes used in the UK for doctor's gown; the Oxford doctor's shape and the Cambridge doctor's shape. The former has bell-shaped sleeves, the latter has long open sleeves. Another rarer form is the Cambridge MusD dress gown which is a pattern between the two.
The other form of doctor's gown is the undress gown. This is a black gown (which may or may not be distinct from the master's gown depending on the university; if it is, it usually is trimmed with lace, braid or other subtle indicators of rank) worn for less formal occasions such as lectures. This type of gown is rarely seen or worn nowadays as many wear the dress gown instead; there are fewer applications for the undress gown in normal university life. However, the undress gown still plays a part in the older universities where academic dress is usually worn. At Cambridge, each doctorate has its own undress gown, each trimmed differently, meaning one can identify the degree of the wearer without the hood (the same is also the case for bachelors and masters gowns at Cambridge). St Andrews prescribes a cassock-like gown with a row of buttons running down the front, coloured according to the degree, and is meant to be worn closed. This gown is worn as the undress gown for higher doctorates, with a Cambridge-type gown for full dress. The two may be worn together or separately.
In the universities of the UK there are days called scarlet days or red letter days. On such days, doctors of the university may wear their scarlet 'festal' or full dress gowns instead of their undress ('black') gown. This is more significant for the ancient universities such as Oxford and Cambridge where academic dress is worn frequently, the black undress gown being worn on normal occasions as opposed to the bright red gowns. Since most universities have abandoned academic dress for all but the graduation ceremony (where doctors always wear scarlet), the significance of scarlet days has all but disappeared.
Undergraduate gowns
Undergraduates at many older universities also wear gowns;Hargreaves-Mawdsley, pp. 91-101, 128-135, 146, 148-149 the most common essentially a smaller knee-length version of the BA gown, or the Oxford Commoners gown which is sleeveless lay type gown and has two streamers at the back at Oxford. At Cambridge, most colleges have their own distinctive design of gown.
At the University of St Andrews, a scarlet undergraduate gown with a velveteen collar is worn by members of United College, including the majority of students at the university. Members of St Mary's College, which is coterminous with the School of Divinity, instead wear a black gown with a violet saltire cross on the left facing: with open sleeves for undergraduates and with closed sleeves for postgraduates.Hargreaves-Mawdsley, pp. 138-145 Students at the other ancient universities of Scotland (the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee) are also entitled to wear the red undergraduate gown, however the practice is less common at these institutions, restricted mainly to certain formal occasions.
In general, undergraduate gowns are seldom worn (even in institutions that prescribe them) except in the older universities. Most new universities do not prescribe them since academic dress has fallen out of daily use so students would hardly, if ever, wear them. Some University College Chapels use them as choir robes as an inexpensive attire which can be seamlessly worn alongside clerical and postgraduate colleagues.
In the past, undergraduates wore gowns according to their rank; for noblemen they wore coloured gowns with gold gimp lace, buttons and other decorations whilst fellow-commoners, gentleman-commoners, scholars, commoners, pensioners, sizars, battelers and servitors wore black gowns of decreasing flamboyance based on their standing in the universities.William Gibson, The Regulation of Undergraduate Academic Dress at Oxford and Cambridge, 1660—1832, The Burgon Society Annual 2004, pp. 26—41.
Habit
Another form of dress, now rarely seen, is the habit, which is worn over a black gown. Only Oxford and Cambridge (though in theory Durham too) use habits and mainly reserve their use for very formal ceremonial occasions and to a specific group of academics or officials.
The Convocation habit used at Oxford is a scarlet sleeveless garment worn over the black gown, with the sleeves of the gown pulled through the armholes. It is similar to a bishop's chimere except that it is worn closed with two large buttons. It is worn by doctors at meetings of Convocation or Congregation by those presenting candidates for degrees.Burgon Transactions 2005 (2006); pp. 50-53
Even more rare and ancient is the cappa clausa or cope, a large scarlet cloak with an ermine shoulder piece worn by the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, or a deputy, when admitting to degrees, and by anyone presenting new higher doctors or BDs for admission to their degrees. Statutes and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge, Chapter II. The cope was once used by Vice-Chancellors of some universities outside Cambridge in the past but the only other university that still uses it is the University of the South in America.Andrew Cusack: The 'New South' Scorns an Old Mace Photo of Vice-Chancellor, Dr. McCrady, wearing a cappa clausaVice Chancellors of the University of the South Shows the various VCs wearing copes.
In Durham, the early statutes permit the wearing of a convocation habit but 'under the gown' Fowler, Appendix VIII: "CONVOCATION HABIT: Scarlet cassimere, with palatinate purple buttons, to be worn under the gown at all Convocations." though later statutes say 'with gown' instead of under it. The Durham habit survives as part of the dress for the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor which are worn under their laced gowns. There are two forms; one is sleeveless like the Oxford pattern and the other is sleeved so more like a cassock than a habit. In theory, doctors could wear the sleeveless type over their black undress gowns like in Oxford but this is very rare as many do not know that they are entitled to it.
Other habits that have fallen into disuse include the cappa manicata which was the same as the Oxford habit except that it had two long disused sleeves dangling behind and was used by lay doctors at Cambridge, the cappa nigra which was a shorter version of the Oxford habit worn by MAs, and the tabard which was similar to a BA gown.Burgon Transactions 2005 (2006); pp. 42-58
The Cambridge Proctors' ruff and the Oxford Proctors' tippet could also be considered another version of a habit, a mantle, but the use of these are restricted to said officials.
Hood
The hood was originally a functional garment, worn to shield the head from the elements. In the English tradition, it has developed to an often bright and decorative garment worn only on special occasions. It is also worn by clergy and lay readers of the Anglican Communion in choir dress, over the surplice, and it is common in cathedrals, churches, and chapels for the choirmaster and/or members of the choir to wear an academic hood to which they are entitled during services, over their cassock and surplice for the choir offices (Morning and Evening Prayer). Historically it may have been worn also at the Eucharist but this is generally considered inappropriate today.