Academic dress

I am talking about the cloaks.

The Traje Académico.

This is where the intersection of fiction and reality gets very blurry and very interesting.

interesting.If you visit Porto, or especially the nearby city of Coimbra, you will inevitably see packs of university students walking around wearing an incredibly distinctive uniform.

But this outfit is ancient, isn't it?

Very ancient.

The tradition of the Traje Académico is deeply entrenched in Portuguese university life.

How far back does it go?

It was passed down from Oxford and Cambridge, which took their tradition from medieval universities of Europe.

I got this from the Wikipedia page about academic dress.

They said, "...this overgarment had the practical purpose of keeping a scholar warm while they were sitting, immobile, or studying." So I guess all the universities were not well heated back in the day, because I certainly wouldn't want to walk around in a giant robe these days, especially during the hot summer months.

Well, definitely good to have more opportunities to wear those things than just a graduation.

I actually kind of like the way the York ones look for our PhD students.

I think it makes them look more like pirates than wizards.

Yeah, I was very disappointed in my academic dress.

I've got to say, ours is just...