Well, finally since arriving here in 2003 I’ve found a good use for the academic gown that sits on a hook on the back of my door! It is a master’s gown from Durham University. I had it while I was on the faculty there as I’d joined the excellent University College (housed in the awesome Durham Castle) so that I could have dinner at high table there from time to time (largely because of the aforementioned Castle). Since leaving there and coming here, it has sat largely undisturbed. But today, while crossing campus in a wonderful downpour, my trouser legs got rather soaked (umbrellas and trenchcoats have their limitations), and so I’m now sitting in my office trouser-less while they dry. Needless to say, my door is closed, and just in case (also since I don’t have blinds on one window), I’m wearing the gown. It is rather comfy, actually, and the thought of routinely wearing it as a sort of coverall while in my office has passed through my mind…briefly. (Perhaps I can store snacks in the weird flappy sleeve-but-not-sleeve things that hang down…?)
I’ll spare us all further discomfort beyond this over-share by not including a photo. You’re welcome.
-cvj
(I really hope I don’t forget what I’m wearing and wander outside to run an errand…)
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very well, thank you. let me know if you’re passing thru nyc sometime.
Ha Ha! I suppose the good news is that your neighbor did not snap a photo, as everyone seems to do for everything these days!
-cvj
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Hi David… actually I don’t know, but I don’t recall any of my friends talking about it. So I’d guess not. Best to check with someone else though…. I was not resident there (I was a postdoc at the IAS nearby) and mostly visited for parties and so forth in the rooms of friends who were grad students.
Clifford, Did they still require gowns for dinner in Hall?
Miss you too Ruthie, hope all is well!
David, I have heard that gowns were used to hide a lot of sins in various circumstances, but this takes the biscuit. And thanks for the reminder of the Grad College at Princeton. I used to hang out there a lot with friends in the early 90s…
Ha! Maybe best not to try that, Brenda!
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This image brightened a somewhat dreary Carolina day……. and it reminded me of some fun i had a couple of weeks ago. Over the holiday the torrential rain in our area left the bridge over a small creek on our (3/4 mile long gravel) driveway flooded a number of times. One of those days was Dec 23 when we were supposed to go to a Xmas Carol party at our neighbors. I put on my sportcoat and bow tie but left my nice pants in a bag as I waded across the creek to the other side to reach our car. To my amusement and my daughters horror, another neighbor had driven down to see how high the water was and thus got to see my ad hoc outfit. Country living at its best.
I’m just trying to get my head round the picture of you at your desk….
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i miss you Clifford!
In the Graduate College at Princeton (which has a tower that is a copy of that at Magdalen College, Oxford) they had in the 60s a rule that required you to wear a gown if you dined in Hall. Thinking that he had escaped such absurdities, a fellow Brit was extremely reluctant to resume them, and frequently showed up for dinner without a gown. The Master reproved him and when this failed to have the desired effect threatened expulsion from the GC. My friend therefore appeared for dinner wearing his gown but nothing else! His modesty was preserved because the Princeton gowns, unlike those in Oxford, fastened at the front.
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🙂
Inventive use!! Hope the downpours ease.
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This made me laugh. It’s good to hear Durham academic gowns have some use!
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Perhaps I should pull the Oxford sub fusc back out and give it a go 😉
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Herbi – Exactly! It’s like a kilt and a cape all wrapped up in one package. What could be better? (someone will no doubt suggest it could be improved by adding a holster for a lightsaber…)
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The new kilt!
Gown Uses… https://t.co/kSjxwGoJHi via @Asymptotia