How-To Wear Your Doctoral Gown - Gown Instructions

Doctoral Gown Instructions

6 Steps to Wearing Your Graduation Gown

Going to school for as many years as you did is a serious accomplishment. Getting to wear a doctoral gown signifies the end of your long journey. You took years of your life to perfect and hone your skills and now you're at the top of the education ladder. When you put on your graduation gown, wear it with pride knowing that school is over and you have achieved something less than 3% of the population has. Knowing all that, it's important that you look great on your big day. Seeing as your a doctoral graduate, you probably don't need gown instructions, but we're going to give them to you anyway, along with other important graduation gown info.

Doctoral Gowns

How do I wear my doctoral gown?

1. First, we recommend taking it out of the package (we know you're a doctor now, but we had to say it anyway)
2. Make sure you follow any of your school's special instructions on graduation gowns and procedures.
3. Check the packaging to make sure you have the proper attire.
4. Plan the outfit you will wear under your gown. Your feet will show underneath your gown, so plan something either that does not show (such as a dress) or something that doesn't clash with your school colors. White, black or tan shoes usually go with all academic attire. Remember, at some schools, a tie will show underneath your robe, so plan accordingly.
5. Place your gown on you as though you were putting on a jacket.
6. Zip up the front of the gown.

Where do I order my doctoral gown?

You will have to make sure your doctoral gown is ordered in advance as this is probably one of the most customized pieces of graduation regalia out there on the market. A handful of schools will provide them for you, others show you where to buy them, and a few out there make you go it alone. College bookstores usually offer them, although you do stand a chance of paying a big premium for your robe if you go that route. The majority of schools will leave you the choice of finding and ordering your own. Websites like GraduationSource.com have a great selection of quality doctoral gowns. Many graduation companies also offer fully customized gowns that may not be on their websites. So definitely give them a call to see before you order.

How can I customize my doctoral gown?

Many schools go with the standard black gown with black velvet. It's fairly standard and fairly boring. If we had spent 7 years in school, we'd want to wear something unique. It's always a good idea to see if your school has any restrictions about what you can wear first. If they don't, then game on! You can order a doctoral gown that has your school colors, you can get it embroidered with your school's name and emblem, and you can customize the velvet colors to match your degree type. Check out GraduationSource's Elite Doctoral Gown to fully customize one or check out their wide selection of stock doctoral gowns. Click here to be taken to a color chart listing velvet's and matching them to their appropriate degrees. We hope you found this How-To Useful. Keep an eye out as we will be posting much more in the future.