Robes aren’t just academic and ecclesiastic. Here’s a look into robes and their meaning in government.

Anyone seeking funding to examine esoteric academic dress (from outside the UK & Ireland)?

There’s only one cure for hood envy: Getting another degree.

Not many American hoods have three colors in their lining — not counting chevrons, that is. @wm.edu

I have severe hood envy

Hood watchers will be intrigued by the College of William & Mary’s doctor of arts hood. Unusually for a US hood, three colours of silk (well, satin) line the cowl: green, silver, and gold. The cowl is faced with white velvet, for arts. Read more at: burgon.org.uk/hood-of-month

We are so happy to welcome a new exhibitor to the #IMC2026 Craft Fair!🎊 Brooklyn and Marie, medievalist artworks and prints will not only be running two workshops at the IMC but will also have a Craft Fair Stall 😁 www.instagram.com/marie.giboulee.art/ www.instagram.com/arnot.art/ #MedievalSky

Take your pick from this trio. We nominate the Czech rector, second from right.

Join us this Sunday, 22 March, Passion Sunday for: 8.00 am Holy Communion (BCP) 9.00 am All-Ages Eucharist 10.30 am Choral Eucharist 3.30 pm H. M. Courts of Justice Service

The Wall Street Journal reports on American students, enticed by academic traditions, who enroll at St Andrews (the tuition helps too). What they find, in addition to lovely gowns, are … more Americans. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👩‍🎓🗽 www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

The latest issue of Burgon Notes is out. The spring number includes a description of endemic silk linings on hoods, updates on our article downloads, and upcoming events. Keep in the know with a Society membership. burgon.org.uk/join-us

Ooo @burgonsociety.bsky.social historicengland.org.uk/images-books...

I realise I don't post on here much, you're not missing anything. However I turned up in a reel again @ox.ac.uk managing the doffing on the right-hand side. @burgonsociety.bsky.social @bodleian.ox.ac.uk . youtube.com/shorts/fthRh...

Academic dress appears outside university ceremonies. For example, in heraldry. Register for a lecture on The Use of Academic Dress in Heraldry, from the 15th century in the UK and abroad. Presented by Duncan Sutherland on Weds, 18 March, at 18.00. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-use-of...

Looking fine, either way!

Town and Gown

I got my cap and gown for graduation!! It's getting real!!

Book your space for the Burgon Society’s 25th Anniversary Spring Conference and AGM. On Saturday 25th April we meet at Durham Cathedral for a programme including a cathedral tour and presentations on academic dress. Enjoy lunch, tea, and a celebratory champagne reception. burgon.org.uk/events

Happy Christmas to all! A ceremony at Queen’s College, Oxford, from a postcard by Gillette, published by Raphael Tuck & Sons, London, c. 1909.

Merry Christmas to all our students, staff, alumni and friends around the world 🎄 📸 Lloyd Mann

Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating 🎄✨ #MerryChristmas

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight— “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Academic dress fit for the holidays: The gowns of rectors of Czech universities are a reinterpretation of the original model of Charles University. The turquoise gown is the rector of the Academy of Fine Arts. The rector of the Mining University, in Ostrava, wears the black gown.

I am only and and ever a Glaswegian.' It's been wonderful to bestow honorary degrees this Commemoration Day, including broadcaster & journalist Kirsty Young. Welcome to #TeamUofG! #UofGCommDay

We’re not the only ones who notice deviations from how gowns are worn in real life.

Created after the Second World War, the University of Sussex reimagined of some of the oldest elements of academic costume. Andrew Plant explains how its eccentricity attracted opprobrium, speculation, bewilderment, and several urban myths. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

The scribe at work has left his spectacles in the drawer. #writingdesk BnF Français 9198; Vie et miracles de Notre Dame, en prose française, arrangés par Jean Miélot; 15th century; f.19r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

What a desk! #writingdesk BnF MS Français 17211; Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, French translation by Claude de Seyssel, volume 1; early 16th century; f.1r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

And if you’re unfamiliar with Charles Franklyn, you’ll find out plenty in Nicholas Groves’ biography of the irascible fellow, “Charles Franklyn: A Man of Strong Opinions.” (A subtitle which describes him mildly.) burgon.org.uk/shop

Our hood of the month, the beautiful Cambridge Bachelor of Music. Historical details are at burgon.org.uk/hood-of-month ‘For once, Charles Franklyn’s immortal phrase may be confidently applied, since few would contest that this hood really is one of the most beautiful and dignified in the world’.

Father Goff’s article covers a lot ground. The Burgon Society festal hood permits fur, doesn’t require it. The two Burgon festal hoods to our knowledge lined with real fur are one with fur re-purposed from an old hood, and one with possum fur—an invasive species in New Zealand, the wearer’s home.

When it came to creating our own hood, what should it look like? The [s2] for Congregation was straightforward, but the festal [f7] had a more dramatic inception. Both would be approved for Fellows of the Burgon Society. Philip Goff recounts how they came to be. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Oh, that isn’t the new hood for Doctor of Electrical Engineering?

Peter A. Thompson’s article on wearing academic hoods ‘in quire’ uses as a foundation the portrait collection of the archbishops of Armagh, evidence of past practice and evolving custom. Which hoods were worn when? Should a hood should be worn with the chimere? newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Ah, splendid! The saturated colours look so summery.

Whoever said academics don’t throw proper parties has never been to a proper part given by an academic.

Nice views, though they’re missing the gowns!

Excited to announce my first ever panel at #IMC2026! 🎉 Our session, 'Negotiating Masculinity in Eastern Orthodoxy', brings together papers from @nick-mayhew.bsky.social, Orlen Crawford (co-organiser) and myself, with @maroulix.bsky.social as moderator. @imc-leeds.bsky.social @leedsims.bsky.social

Here's a #HigherEducationPostcard of Taxila, Pakistan, one of the earliest sites of higher education in the world, active from the 5th century before the common era If you like this image, please retweet it - remember, BlueSky has #NoAlgorithm

Brother Gregor never spoke and often spooked the neophytes with his appearance, but he was a gentle soul and a phenomenal cook and knew more ways to prepare a fish than the abbot knew hymns

The question of hood etiquette in choirs has always been something of a contentious one. Regardless of what the Canons say, tradition and opinion still seem to win out in most cases. Samuel Teague’s article on hoods in Oxford collegiate choirs is now available: newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Let’s take a look, Fellows: Whose hoods do you see?

Philip Goff, a founding Fellow of the Burgon Society, was honored by the University of London on its Founding Day and visited with the university’s Chancellor, The Princess Royal.

Which knot would you suggest for tying a tassel to a trencher? Or holding a hood in place so it doesn’t ride up your throat and choke you?

Undergraduates in cap and gown are a rare sight today. Yet in the UK, over 30 universities prescribe it for students. Find out more in Edward Teather’s article on The History of Undergraduate Academical Dress in Britain’s Modern Universities since 1880, now at newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Now online: The first woman in the British Empire entitled to wear a hood trimmed with fur was in New Zealand in 1879. Bruce Christianson, Philip Goff, and the late Nicholas Groves tell her story in Furred Hoods with Silk Linings from the Late 19th Century. newprairiepress.org/burgonsociet...

Looks as though we won’t have to worry about AI taking historians’ jobs any time soon. bsky.app/profile/stev...

We Fellows are preponderantly fellows, but not entirely! That makes us a rarity for a costume society, most of whose members are women. We would very happily welcome you into our ranks.

Finally, after a day of inducting Fellows, hearing from the President, learning from research presentations, and lunch, the Burgon Society heads to a dinner at Café du Marché to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary.