DRESS SURVIVALS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23273, 16 February 1939, Page 5

DRESS SURVIVALS

CHURCH AND UNIVERSITY GARMENTS WITH A HISTORY ORIGIN OF GRADUATES' GOWNS BY ACADEMIA Fashions come and fashions go, but in some walks of life the same quaint garb goes on for ever, recalling modes and manners .of many a by-gone age. Coronation pageantry revived for a space the splendid robes of ancient heraldry, but daily you may meet with garments boasting of just as long a pedigi'ce as those. Any day in, London may be seen the picturesque uniform of the Bluecoat Boy whose long blue robe, canary yellow stockings-and white Geneva bands remain as a relic of the days when the school was founded as a charity institution. .Many famous men, including the writers Lamb and Coleridge, have worn the Bluecoat uniform. Light on Old Customs In the clerical field alone dress survivals present an endless source of information on old customs. The Geneva gown and bands" have become the recognised pulpit dress of many of the Free Churches, in /the Presbyterian kirk at least the custom dating from the time ' of John Knox. From an academic point of view, of course, the riper the gown the greater the standing of the wearer -and in the pulpits of non-conformity many an heirloom is to be found. Indeed, some of the older gowns of heavy silk are worth treasuring as their like are obtainable to-day only at an exorbitant sum. In Great Britain it has become the custom for congregations of the Free Churches to present the minister, on his installation, with a new gown, a custom which might be extended to this country with benefit to the stipendiary. The two white clerical bands at the throat denote, in Scotland, the ordained or "placed" minister, as 'differentiated from the student preacher. .in the Anglican Church, the bishop's gaiters remain as a remainder of the time when two horses were at the disposal of his lordship in order that he might visit outlying parts of his diocese. Perhaps for the same reason

the curate's shovel hat is attached to his lapel by a thin cord. Vestments as worn by the Roman and Anglican Orders are in all cases a modification of the long toga affected hy priests from the earliest times. Ritual and Robes Revived

At one period the Anglican Church allowed the practice of wearing vestments to lapse—those were the days when if was considered more merit in a parson to follow the hounds than to shepherd souls. Inevitable reaction set in with the Oxford Movement of two centuries ago, when the Anglican clergy made a distinct swing back to the ritual and robes of the early Church. '< With capping celebrations in our

university centres, academic garb S conies to the fore, and in student much anxiety and ingenuity is displayed in the effort to borrow and the correct academic, outfit Sfor the great event. The regulation graduate costume is costly, usually far beyond the student purse. Mortarboards, especially, are in good demand, jS)for. being of no further use after the 't ceremony, they are not regarded as father acquisitions to the wardrobe or ornament to the study. The man who clisphivw u-ith pride his cavalry sword or his cricketing colours would shrink from parading his trencher in such manner before the public- gaze.- Obviously, however, one must have a cap to be "capped," although why such unwieldlv headgear should figure in the ceremony remains a mvsterv..

If such he necessary, why not make use of the light and equally decorative "hood," which in its varied forms and linings is one of the most important accessories of the academic garb? The hood is. in short, a sheer relic of the

medieval, a reminder of the days when learning was the prerogative ofjnonks, and the monkish hood is the very same hood which adds to the colour of the capping ceremony ,of to-day. Insignia of Bank

it is the trimming of this hood which is important nowadays. Draped on the shoulders, it retains no other use than that of denoting to the initiated the degree of the wearer . . a gay grass green. for instance, adorns the

gradtiand in agriculture, although not ; all degrees have such appropriate in--rsignia.

r Lastly, there is the gown itself. He • iWho boasts .a rent and rusty garment s. is not the victim of dire poverty. He is M merely asserting the venerable proportions of his academic standing. Indeed, Iggianv students set great store by a gown that bears the marks of time and the ink-bottle, and will nay exorbitant sums for the genuine old vintage. In the gown it is the sleeve that is the insignia of .rank, quite the most useful shape and cut being the pocket Variety, for in these one may store a multiplicity of chalk, pocket handkerchiefs, a favourite volume or two. and fpeven, on occasion, a pocket flask. So one could go on for hours discussing the vagaries of these relics of a bygone age, garments whose weird shapes and odd characteristics are equalled only by the latest millinery ft nd mantle displays.