Let’s know something about Graduation cap &gowns

The word cap & gown is derived from the current words roba and cappa clausa a garment with a long black cape. In earlier times all students at all the universities were in at least minor order and were  used to wear the cappa or other religious dress and restricted to clothes which are of black or dark colour.

In most of the open universities the gowns most commonly worn are that of the clerical type for Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA). These are common throughout the English spoken world because these are also used as preschool graduation gown . Both cap and gown are usually made of black cloth (although usually gown is dyed in one of the university’s colour) and have the material at the back of the gown gathered in to the yoke. The BA gown has bell-shaped sleeves while the MA gown has long sleeves closed at the ends with the arms passing through the opening above the elbow.

 There are two types of yoke which are used for gowns. The more usual is the curved yoke; even as the square or straight yoke is more used in modern times. Another type of gown is called as the lay type gown which is identical to the MA gown in which it has long closed sleeves, but do not have burden. In its place there is a flap collar with the gathers under it. Thus it is less huge than the religious type of gowns. Thus this type of cheap graduation gown is often used for the dress of officers and graduate of some degrees.

The academic cap or square, mainly known as the mortarboard, has come to be representative of academia. In some universities it can be worn by graduates and undergraduates also. It is a flat hat with a tassel at the edges from a button in the top centre of the board. As it should be worn, the cap is parallel to the ground, though some people specially, women, wore it angled back.

The mortarboard can also be referred to as a trencher cap (or simply trencher). The tassel comprises a cluster of silk threads which are combined together and fastened by a button at one end and set at the centre of the head piece. The loose strands are allowed to fall freely over the embark. Often the strands are plaited together to form a string with the end threads left untied.

In many of the universities graduation cap and gown holders of doctorates wear a soft rounded head piece known as a Tudor bonnet or tam, instead of a trencher. Other types of hats used especially in some universities in the UK, are known as the John Knox cap (generally in Scottish universities), the Bishop Andrewes cap (a reinvention of the ancient form of the mortarboard, worn by Cambridge DDs) and the Pileus (at Sussex). In some of the universities, such as Oxford, women might be wore an Oxford ladies cap.