On Apr 17, 2009, at 7:21 AM, Ruth Anne Baumgartner wrote:
Master's hoods have narrower bands the color of which, I believe, tells only the type of Master's (M.A., M.S., etc.), and a lining in the institution's colors.
The velvet bands on Master's hoods are color-coded by discipline.
The things ARE rather counter-intuitive to put on, but if someone would explain to the kids that the little loops are meant to go around a shirt button I think they'd figur out how to get it on right-side-up eventually.
Every time I walk at commencement I see full-professor PhDs who have no idea how to wear their hoods. As a professional costumer, my strong urge is to go around fixing their costumes, but since I don't know most of them, I restrain myself!
the M.A. robe has bat-wing sleeves, traditionally sewn closed across the bottom and with a horizontal slit at about the elbow for the arm to come through (but cheap robes may have open sleeves that come down to the elbow in front and are angled longer in back--yes, no place for tissues, car keys, or the Times crossword)
When I made mine, I made the sleeves the same shape as the modern ones, but open from the shoulder to the wrist in front like the hanging sleeve from which they are derived. It means I have to wear black sleeves underneath it, but it looks much less silly than the ones with wrist-level slits. I also did the pleats in the body of the gown like the 16th-century V&A loose gown in Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. I decided that since I'm a 16th-century scholar, I should dress like a 16th-century scholar!
Theoretically here only Ph.D.s are entitled to the soft square cap instead of the mortarboard (and only they get the gold tassel), but many M.A.s who own their regalia wear the soft cap too, but with a black tassel.
Some British institutions use the Tudor round cap in velvet for PhDs, so I made mine in plain black wool with no tassel (since I'm a mere MFA).
Melanie Schuessler Eastern Michigan University _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
