Academic Dress

The cap, gown and hood that graduates wear as they step up to receive their academic award has come to symbolise and celebrate their achievement. So it may be hard to believe that the ancestor of this now symbolic outfit was once the everyday wear of Europe's scholars. In fact, the origins of today's academic dress stretch back hundreds of years to the birth of the first universities.

Through early medieval times, these institutions sprang up across Europe. Their study was exclusively religious and their students were in holy orders. As clerics, students had to wear long, sober clothing to reflect their religious status. But as fashions moved on, the universities stuck to tradition and kept this costume, effectively turning it into a kind of uniform. This made it very easy to keep tabs on students, whose dress would make them stand out from the crowd.

Centuries have passed, yet this academic dress survives today as the familiar cap, gown and hood. But while several Oxbridge colleges, schools (where gowns are still worn for teaching) and some church services still use academic dress, it's more commonly seen at degree ceremonies. Every British university has its own academic dress code. While the shape of the gowns is often similar, the hood usually varies, depending on the particular degree or award.

Ede and Ravenscroft has supplied caps, gowns and hoods to Britain's universities since its early days, but it wasn't until the University of London was founded in the 19th century that demand started to pick up. This trend has continued over the last hundred years, as new universities and colleges have been established. Today, the firm is busier than ever, supplying academic dress to hundreds of academic institutions in Britain and around the world.

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