| Higher education is changing and increasing in | | | | to strap under the chin to keep the headpiece |
| popularity year on year. Newly available subjects | | | | secure. Today, the colour and design of hood |
| and the option to study online courses highlight | | | | may vary from institution to institution and |
| the influence of the modern and fast-advancing | | | | achievement to achievement. |
| world on university life, yet certain traditions still | | | | Perhaps the most intriguing element of |
| remain. Wearing a cap and gown on graduation | | | | graduation-wear is the mortarboard (or Trencher |
| day is still standard for all graduates whether they | | | | Cap). The design of this intriguing accessory is |
| have studied from home or just completed a BA | | | | derived from the square biretta worn by the |
| in Pet Name Studies. But why do we wear the | | | | clergy in medieval times. Over the centuries, |
| cap and gown? And how has it changed? | | | | Academia became gradually less connected with |
| In Britain and the United States, the style of the | | | | the church and subsequently the headwear worn |
| contemporary cap and gown is influenced by the | | | | by both sectors changed unlike one other. |
| dress of Oxford and Cambridge students, and the | | | | Although the church kept the biretta, it was the |
| robes worn by clerics beforehand. Through | | | | square style that survived in the universities and |
| history, the colour of undergraduate's robes would | | | | institutions. Nowadays, the mortarboard varies |
| reflect their rank, much in the same way that | | | | typically from a simple black cap with black |
| today the gown's yoke might be of a colour to | | | | tassels for undergraduates and sometimes gold |
| identify the subject area of study. Noblemen | | | | tassels (or other colours) for university officials. |
| would wear gowns with gold lace and button | | | | Instead, doctors might also wear a tam, a soft |
| decorations whilst lower ranking students, such as | | | | rounded hat. |
| commoners, would wear far more simple robes. | | | | It is indisputable that how and what we study |
| The sleeves of the gown may vary today, with | | | | during higher education is changing, improving, and |
| bell-shaped sleeves for BA students, and closed | | | | becoming more accessible. Despite this, the |
| sleeves for MA students. | | | | tradition of the cap and gown has its roots firmly |
| Through the 15th and 16th centuries the hood | | | | in the birth of university education, and the very |
| began to be seen less in ordinary dress, but was | | | | notion of graduation becomes even more special |
| instead re-appropriated into the conservative | | | | and thought-provoking when you acknowledge |
| wear of universities and other institutions. The | | | | the amount of history there is behind it. And to |
| hood went through a phase of modification, being | | | | think, all this comes to light just by wearing a |
| oversized for a period, and then being given the | | | | robe and a stupid hat. |
| additional liripipe which might well have been used | | | | |