A Guide to Collecting Your Graduation Gown on the Day

On the day, go and register that you have arrived to attend your ceremony. Then:

1. Look for the Robing Room. You should already have been advised where to collect your robes in the information pack. If you have lost or cannot find this information, don't worry, there will be clear signing directing to the Robing Room close to where you will be graduating.

2. If you have prebooked go to step 3. If you have not prebooked and your college or university allows us to provide an on-the-day ordering service, please see ask inform a member of staff and they will direct you to our Help Desk where you will be able to pay.Once you have paid, you will then robed by our staff - go to step number 6 to follow the rest of the sequence.

3. Whilst you should not need your reference number, please bring it with you. Your reference number was provided when you made your booking. it includes the first 5 letters of your family name (if your name is 5 letters long or shorter it will be there in full), and a 5 digit number which is your unique identifier - in case there is more than one person with your name.

4. In the robing room you will be invited to be robed and asked for your name as the robes are hung in alphabetical order on rails. So please tell our member of staff your full name, confirming your family name clearly. This will help us to find your robes quickly.

5. Our member of staff may ask you to repeat your name or even to see your reference number to ensure that you are getting the robes you ordered and not those of someone with a similar name. Please bear with us if we need to make this clarification. Each robe is tagged with your name and details to make the return process fast and to ensure that if robes are not returned we know who has rented them.

6. You will then be robed in the gown appropriate for your qualification. To see what to wear under your gown click here.

7. In most cases, you will also wear a hood, again appropriate for your qualification. Our hoods normally attach to the gown by small Velcro patches. These do away with most of the need for pins to hold the hood on your shoulders. However there is also a loop on the neckband of your hood and to hold this in place it is helpful to wear a shirt or blouse with buttons on it.

8. The designs and colours of gowns and hoods vary from place to place and from qualification to qualification and there is a rich history behind the colours and designs of academic dress. To find out more about the history of academic dress click here.

9. It is then probable that you will be fitted with a hat, and again the style of hat will depend on your qualification and institution. In some cases, hats are not worn before the ceremony, in others they are not worn at all. In Scotland for example, many institutions have a tradition of not wearing hats, whereas this is relatively unusual in England and Wales.

10. Our hats have elasticated sides and are very forgiving of most sizes and shapes of head. Please bear in mind that if you do take a "mortar board" style hat off, when you put it back on, the long seam (normally with the label on the inside) goes to the back of your head and the tassel goes over your left eye.

11. Please bear in mind that robes where originally designed as outer garments like coats and can get rather warm, especially in summer. Also they can be rather heavy, and because of their design, they tend to slip back on your shoulders. This is a built-in design feature and something it is very hard to avoid, especially for people who are slightly built.

12. It is possible to extend the hire of your robes beyond the day of the ceremony. Before doing this we need to know that this is your intention, and we also need credit or debit card details as security against the garments return. If taking extended hire it is the hirer's responsibility to ensure the garments are returned safely and in good condition. Our Help Desk staff will provide you with more details of this service.