What did you wear under your robes for your graduation?

[MrsMeow]

I have mine very soon and don't have a clue what to wear under my robes! I don't like anything above the knee and will need a high neckline to pin the robes on to the front and the shoulders.

Please give me some ideas, I'm really struggling! We have been told to wear 'business dress' but I want something a bit more interesting than black and white. My robes are black with red & yellow trim.

Thanks :)

We had to wear black skirt and white shirt.

Edinburgh uni graduates I see each year look best in a smart black shift dress I think. I don't think colour would work.

For my undergrad I wore a lovely tweed suit.
Postgrad I wore a black wrap dress.
Both instances, great heels and a blow dry. There's a lot of photos so it's good to look nice!

Thanks museumum, I almost bought a shift dress yesterday actually! Have been looking at pics online of last years graduates just now and some of them had patterned tops on which just clashed really so think plain is the way to go...

Thanks tak1ng, have already booked in for hair! (wild woman of borneo here)

I had to wear sub-fusc which is a silly outfit originally designed for men which doesn't work on women (for men it is black suit, butterfly collar shirt, white bow tie) for women, black skirt/trousers, white shirt, black jacket and a silly black ribbon round your neck (which I presume is supposed to stand in for the white bow tie on the men).

We had to wear black and white under our gown, so undergrad I wore a black sort of pinafore dress with a white shirt, and postgrad a black and white print knee length shift dress.

This was 1993 and 1995, mind.

We had to wear something with buttons to attach the hood to. First time I wore a button through dress in quite a heavy cotton which worked. Second time I wore a skirt and blouse, but the hood kept making the blouse ride up. Not so good. You need to think about practicalities as well as style...

The older unis tend to specify black and white. I went all black dress and court shoes, and it was a bit boring but it didn't detract from the robes. The uni in my current city doesn't seem to have these rules and it more seems to be wedding guest type attire in any colour.

I wish I'd worn something that buttons up because the hood bit of the gown looked best on those who did that!

Black trousers and a white shirt. Undergrad and postgraduate. Buttons on the shirt meant they could hook the hood on.

Agree with everyone else - and don't forget shoes you can walk in. You don't want to fall on your arse in your moment of glory :)

All black or black and white look best IMO. With a large safety pin or button to hold the hood down at the front.

The people in the robing room should have plenty of safety pins and know how to pin the hood on for you

I wore one of these www.lindybop.co.uk/audrey-dresses-c12 in a colour that matched the hood.

A lot of the women were in very short dresses, and heels they had trouble walking in, which didn't look good as they walked down the aisle!

I wore a really simple white shift dress - IMO a block of colour looks best.

J'Adore Eau de Parfum

Yes, whatever you wear do not wear 5" heels. I see this every year at Edinburgh and it's so sad, self-evidently intelligent young women tottering around like barbie dolls, bambi on ice or strippers :(

I have seen more graduations than most people have had hot dinners. Keep it simple, black and white really does work best, if you don't have a a jacket button to hook your hood onto you will need to safety-pin it to your bra or it will keep sliding back, short skirts and high heels are a style catastrophe under an academic gown.

I wore a navy dress for my first graduation and subfusc for my second.

I would also agree on a black and white combo. You will need a button to hook the hood onto (I tried a safety pin, but it didn't really work). I found that shirt needs to be tucked in otherwise weight of hood will cause shirt to rise up especially woth a bigger hood.

I ended up wearing much the same outfit for both of my graduations as what I had foolishly planned for my masters just did not work. Dress with no front button and safety pin didn't work. Shirt outside trousers (not the sort of trousers to tuck shirts in), rode up. Didn't like the look of the trousers anyway.

Be carefull with heels especially if grass and marquees are involved.

I looked at my old photos the other day.

I wore a deep vermillion red calf length dress in a medium weight cotton and the photos of that day are some of the best that have ever been taken of me. Being 21 would have probably helped, but I think the fact that the colour underneath the gown worked so well with my complexion meant that I looked 'myself', but the best version of myself.

I don't wear black, so would probably go for a well-fitted shift dress in a deep solid colour to compliment the hood.

Complement

I think mine specified black and white but I went for just black and got a shift dress. I have now worn graduation robes quite a few times and have always worn a black dress. I really can't pull off shirts, I always end up looking frumpy and waitress like.