| Caps and Gowns Graduation gowns evolved from the long clerics' garments worn by medieval scholars as far back as the 12th century. One theory maintains that they not only symbolized the scholars' status but provided a way for them to keep warm in the drafty, unheated buildings where they toiled away at their studies. Eventually, scholars shifted to more conventional dress, but they continued to bring gowns out on special occasions, such as graduation ceremonies. In the 19th century, a group of American colleges and universities attempted to standardize their gowns, giving special attention to the sleeves. Their “Intercollegiate Code of Academic Costume,” published in 1895, prescribed pointed long sleeves for bachelor's degree recipients, long closed sleeves for master's degrees and round open sleeves for doctor's degrees. All gowns were to be black, period. Caps, meanwhile, originated as long hoods before evolving into skull caps and ultimately into square, flat mortarboards, sometime in the 1700s. The 1895 code called for caps to be black, as well, adding that, “Each cap shall be ornamented with a long tassel attached to the middle point at the top.” By some accounts, before tassels became standard equipment, mortar boards were often topped by pom-poms. Celebrate graduates and check out these titles |
