11 Facts About Academic dress

Contemporarily, it is commonly seen only at graduation ceremonies, but formerly academic dress was, and to a lesser degree in many ancient universities still is, worn daily.

Academic dress is worn by members of certain learned societies and institutions as official dress.

Academic dress found in most universities in the Commonwealth of Nations and the United States is derived from that of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which was a development of academic and clerical dress common throughout the medieval universities of Europe.

In general, the materials used for academic dress are heavily influenced by the climate where the academic institution is located, or the climate where the graduate will usually be wearing the costume .

Materials used for academic dress vary and range from the extremely economical to the very expensive.

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Many institutions whose Academic dress includes gowns of varying lengths prescribe the appropriate length of each gown with reference to parts of the wearer's body .

Since 2005, some universities introduced centrally organized graduation ceremonies for students of all faculties where academic dress is worn, most notably University of Bonn, Chemnitz University of Technology, and RWTH Aachen .

Academic dress is only worn on ceremonial occasions: the university anniversary or dies natalis, inaugural lectures, and the public defence of a doctoral thesis.

Academic dress is rarely worn in New Zealand other than at formal academic events, such as by graduates and faculty at graduation ceremonies and teaching faculty at school prizegivings.

However, this academic dress is only used for the opening of the academic year and for PhD graduations or for doctorates honoris causa.

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 Academic dress, and restricted to clothes of black or other dark colour.