Monday 25 March 2013

Dressing gowns


I was not cut out for a life in academe.
My pathetic clutch of 'O' and 'A' levels saw to that.
And neither was I suited to a career in haute couture,
as my present wardrobe will testify,
but in the programme for the degree awards' ceremony
I found a perfect collision of the two worlds:
a description of the academical gowns
for each of the degrees.
So should I wish to,
I could imagine a  collection of jackets
and dresses
fashioned from some of these
delightful combinations.

Scarlet cloth lined with dove-coloured silk,
that is silk of a turquoise-blue shot with rose pink.
Doctor of Divinity

Scarlet cloth lined with light cherry silk.
Doctor of Law

Scarlet cloth lined with pink silk shot with light blue.
Doctor of Science

Cream damask, lined with dark cherry satin.
Doctor of Music

Black corded silk lined with bronze silk,
the hood part-lined with scarlet cloth.
Doctor of Engineering

Black cloth lined with scarlet silk.
Master of Letters

Black cloth lined with slate blue silk.
Master of Mathematics

Black cloth lined with dark plum silk.
Master of Research

Black corded silk lined with yellow silk.
Master of Studies

Black cloth lined with blue silk.
Master of Philosophy

Black cloth lined with dark green silk.




Black cloth lined with light green silk.
Master of Finance







12 comments:

  1. Ok, I'll go for Dr of Divinity. Can one just apply for the robe? Might be cosy in this chilly weather.

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    2. Yes just the robe. You might have preferred the Bachelor of Medicine's mid-cherry silk, the hood part-lined with white fur and the tippet edged with white fur. To reassure you, as you are a vegetarian, I don't think the fur need be real. The Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine has even more fur which seems a little contradictory.

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  2. Hmm. Hard to choose. I'm very tempted by Master of Research, partly for the plum coloured lining and partly because the research isn't defined so it could be anything. On the other hand, Doctor of Divinity sounds gorgeous.

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    1. On the same lines I could have offered you Master of Advanced Study - black cloth lined with gold silk.

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  3. I agree with Isabelle, as long as it is just the cape and not the studying.

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  4. No studying required on my blog. I am House Captain after all.

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    1. No studying required? Just swishing about in those fetching gowns? Praise be.

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  5. If I could please have the black cape with the scarlet silk lining for my confident days, and the Black with dark green for my 'undetermined' days, I think that would cover it :)

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  6. Mine was plain grey. No fur. I was gutted.

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  7. Never mind the clothes or the studying - I want them all as curtains! (And the grand house to go with them, naturally....)

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  8. Lovely idea. I have always admired these hoods too but never made the mental leap of imagining myself in them. I simply love bright silk linings and once had a long black cloak lined with orange-yellow which I still regret finally got too shabby to wear ...

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