| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
As is natural in the second oldest university in the United Kingdom, the University of Cambridge has a long tradition of academic dress.
Academic dress is still worn quite often in Cambridge. Many undergraduates in their first week at Cambridge buy (or borrow) a gown for the purpose of enrolment in the University (known as matriculation). It is more common to buy a gown, especially at the more traditional colleges, as the number of occasions on which it is worn quickly repays the investment; gowns are often recycled between 'generations', as new graduate students in turn need to upgrade their gowns at the start of the year.
In some colleges, gowns are worn to Formal Hall (formal dinner, held almost every night in some colleges, once a term in others) and to Chapel. Various College events also demand academic dress; for example, in the Trinity College statutes, it specifies that certain senior members of College (such as the Dean) prefer students to wear academic dress when addressing them in their official capacity. In practice, this is not rigidly adhered to.
Gowns are also worn, with a hood, to graduation ceremonies. There are strict rules regarding which gown and hood a graduand (one graduating) should wear.
The gowns in use in Cambridge, like those generally used throughout the UK but not the US, are open-fronted. The main types are the undergraduate gown, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) gown, Master of Arts (M.A.) gown and doctoral gown.
In general, the holders of a degree will wear the hood (and gown) of the most senior degree that they currently possess. However, at graduation, if a graduand does not possess a degree (i.e. is graduating for the first time), he or she wears the hood of the degree about to be awarded (usually the B.A.) along with the gown to which he or she is currently entitled (usually the undergraduate gown).
A form of a black cap known as a mortarboard (or square) may be worn or carried. Properly, it is worn outdoors and carried indoors, except by people acting in an official capacity who may continue to wear it indoors. In practice, few people wear (or even carry) a cap nowadays; caps ceased to be compulsary for undergraduates in the 1950s after a shortage but are nominally still required for graduates.
With their festal gowns, Doctors wear Tudor bonnet s, which are round and made of velvet, with gold string and tassels, except that Doctors of Divinity wear a black velvet cap.
Sub-fusc means "of a dark/dusky colour", and refers to the clothes worn with full academic dress in Cambridge. Generally, this involves a dark suit and white shirt, collar, bands and bow tie for men, and a dark suit and white blouse for women. The rules for dress on graduation for women also specify that women's attire must have long sleeves and, if a skirt is worn, it must be knee-length or longer and worn with tights.
In place of sub-fusc, members of Her Majesty's Forces may wear their service uniform, persons in holy orders may wear their clerical dress, and national dress may also be worn, together with the appropriate gown and hood.
The Cambridge form of sub-fusc is usually not as strict as that at Oxford, and gowns are often worn with less formal attire (particularly by undergraduates who are required to wear gowns to hall). However, the rules are enforced strictly at formal graduation ceremonies, and persons who are incorrectly dressed may be prevented from graduating in person and their Praelector or Presenter may be fined.