Formal Dress Forum

[BasilSeal]

Quite right, exnihilo. I still wear my red gown whenever academic dress is called for, since I don't have a graduate gown (must rememdy that soon...) and refuse to wear the gown of my Ph.D., which is American and so foul.

[exnihilo]

Hmm. American doctoral gowns. Boak.

Discuss.

[BasilSeal]

I disagree.

Double boak.

Of course, this is a good thing in my case, since it will simply motivate me to accumulate enough publications and academic influence to secure a D.Litt. down the road.

[RJ Covino]

Quoting exnihilo from 09:49, 15th Sep 2005
Hmm. American doctoral gowns. Boak.

Discuss.

Worse is the "innovation" of the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the US who, to emulate the doctoral robes of the country, by his own authority added gold bands to his judicial robes' sleeves so as to distinguish himself from the rest of the members of said Court. You'd think he'd have been content enough with the somber black...

Will be interesting to see if his successor maintains the practice.

[hr]

http://www.ralphcovino.com

[BasilSeal]

What a tosser.

[RJ Covino]

Quoting BasilSeal from 23:23, 15th Sep 2005
What a tosser.

It's rude to speak ill of the dead - especially when they're still not cold and certainly within haunting distance... Condemn the innovation, not the man.

[hr]

http://www.ralphcovino.com

[Andrew Cusack]

Worse is the "innovation" of the late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the US who, to emulate the doctoral robes of the country, by his own authority added gold bands to his judicial robes' sleeves so as to distinguish himself from the rest of the members of said Court.

Dare I venture to correct the Covino? I was always informed by the television media that the late Chief Justice added the bands (I thought they were silver) as he was inspired by some Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. In fact, it was my understanding that practically every time Rehnquist was on television in garb they would mention this G+S genesis of the innovation.

That said Maryland's highest court have nifty red robes, that are supposedly continuous from the colonial period.

[RJ Covino]

Correct all you want; however, the fact remains that the gold piping in that place along the bell sleeves of his gowns is directly reminiscent of the three bars which are awarded to those of doctoral status.

It's not like I did research before I started ranting... and anyway, that which brings us closer to the goal of 2000 posts can't be all that bad!

[hr]

http://www.ralphcovino.com

[exnihilo]

Quoting Andrew Cusack from 03:40, 16th Sep 2005
That said Maryland's highest court have nifty red robes, that are supposedly continuous from the colonial period.

Is there a reason to suppose that another colour of robe was worn for a period between then and now? If not, it hardly seems unreasonable that they would be red throughout, or that they would be based on colonial, nay even British, judicial robes.

(Edited to amend a quoting error.)

[BasilSeal]

Available in BESS, or not?

[Andrew Cusack]

Quoting exnihilo from 21:50, 16th Sep 2005
Is there a reason to suppose that another colour of robe was worn for a period between then and now? If not, it hardly seems unreasonable that they would be red throughout, or that they would be based on colonial, nay even British, judicial robes.

Certainly not unreasonable, but I wanted to be cautious since my only knowledge of them being in continuous use was conversational from a friend. Come to think of it, it seems unlikely (in the U.S.) that, were they ever dropped, they would be revived, but theres always a chance they could've been invented. But this is all conjecture on my part; I am ignorant as to the story of Maryland's judicial garb.

For those who'd like to see the members of the court, here's a photo:
http://www.courts.state.md.us/coappeals ... proved.jpg

[Mr Comedy]

Quoting BasilSeal from 01:24, 17th Sep 2005
Available in BESS, or not?

Not. There were some of the mythical United College ties available in Loot as so admirably championed by Mr Peter Blair, until that chap's tie business went out of business. Arf.

[RJ Covino]

OK, here's a question that I think exnihilo may be able to help with, having been Assessor and all that.

26th October is listed as "The Rectors Debate" on the Term Card. Aside from the begging of the obvious question how many actual Rectors will be attending (I presume it's a Rectorial candidates sort of thing, given that the election is 2 days off of it; however, it would be quite the achievement if the BoT managed to get the Rector of Glasgow to come to St Andrews to duke it out with Clem in one last hurrah...), it brought another question to my mind.

The following Q's are based on an assumption which may or may not be correct. Here it is: I gather that due to the varying sizes of Rectors (like Popes they must come in small medium and large, presumably), they each get a set of official Rectorial togs made to order.

Q1: Do they get to keep these after their term, especially as they have been custom fit for them? (Presumably they might want to get buried in them, donate them to the KK for procession use, make a special suit for their baby from Krypton from them, what have you...)

Q2: Is there any part of the AD which gets passed down in a continuous fashion from Rector to Rector, such as his Rectorial chapeau?

[hr]

http://www.ralphcovino.com

[exnihilo]

The whole shebang is passed on. To the best of my knowledge, there is only one Rectorial gown, which the nice people at Ede and Ravenscroft routinely take in for refurbishing, but it's the same one that all the Rectors in my time wore.

Incidentally, you'll note in our AD rules that the Assessor is specified as wearing a black trenchard (and I would have!), but in actuality, the hat we associate with the Rector's gown was designed alongside the original Assessor's gown and is of the same velvet. Naturally, the Rector needs no hat as his gown sports a hood, alas the velvet of the said hat is no longer the same colour as the new Assessor's gown - a small price to pay, I feel, for such a fine looking bit of AD.

[BasilSeal]

Quoting Mr Comedy from 15:36, 17th Sep 2005

Quoting BasilSeal from 01:24, 17th Sep 2005
Available in BESS, or not?

Not. There were some of the mythical United College ties available in Loot as so admirably championed by Mr Peter Blair, until that chap's tie business went out of business. Arf.

That is very unfortunate. Can one be procured anywhere now?

[Mr Comedy]

As the Arctic chill starts to set around us, and the nights draw in, what do you gentlemen think of wool overcoats? Presumably you are in favour, but do you have any style preferences, and where do you recommend purchasing one?

[Anon.]

Double-breasted overcoats look a bit 1980s, in my opinion.

[BasilSeal]

Single breasted, certainly. Raglan sleeves. Harris tweed, if possible. Such coats come up on eBay with surprising frequency--although avoid any with ANY signs of damage. They don't cost too much, either, and will last for ages.

[BasilSeal]

A rather nice example of such a coat can be found here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

[J.C.H.]

No, it's more the case that Academia doesn't pay well enough for Saville Row.

or even Burlington St. (A&S left the Row in March.)