Unzipped Graduation Gowns?

[Luv Bunnies]

I watched our high school's grad ceremony online last night. My DS will be graduating next year. I was a little surprised to see about 1/3 of the kids cross the stage with their gowns wide open. It was a warm day, but not horrible (in the 80s by that time). To me, it just looked tacky and undignified. I can see unzipping the gown while sitting through the speeches, but when marching in and walking up to get their diplomas, I think they should be zipped up. That's how graduation gowns are meant to be worn.

We attended our older son's graduation at another district school two years ago. I don't recall seeing any of the kids with their gowns unzipped during the ceremony. Younger DS said, It's the style." Am I missing something here?

 

[pryncess527]

I concur.
The only student I've seen with her gown unzipped, was too large to zip the gown. Otherwise, I would have asked her to zip it before entering the ceremony.

But I'll take this time to complain about my graduation regalia pet peeve -- the mortarboard hat being worn cocked back on the head. My favorite teacher in HS really hammered home that a mortarboard hat should be parallel to the ground -- it's not about fashion and shouldn't be moved to an angle so your hair can look cute. After hearing her give that speech 100 times, it must have sunk in because now I feel the same way. The graduation ceremony I organize is for college, so I don't actually give them this lecture, but internally I can't help but groan when I see them worn incorrectly.

 

[MIGrandma]

I don't mind that the mortarboard isn't parallel to the ground, especially for girls that wear their hair a certain way. I've never been to a graduation where any student wore their gown unzipped. I do agree they should be zipped. Looks a little too casual to be unzipped.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I concur.
The only student I've seen with her gown unzipped, was too large to zip the gown. Otherwise, I would have asked her to zip it before entering the ceremony.

But I'll take this time to complain about my graduation regalia pet peeve -- the mortarboard hat being worn cocked back on the head. My favorite teacher in HS really hammered home that a mortarboard hat should be parallel to the ground -- it's not about fashion and shouldn't be moved to an angle so your hair can look cute. After hearing her give that speech 100 times, it must have sunk in because now I feel the same way. The graduation ceremony I organize is for college, so I don't actually give them this lecture, but internally I can't help but groan when I see them worn incorrectly.

Poor girl.

 

[jen0610]

The high school will allow the kids to slide the zipper down a bit while the first part of the ceremony is going on and they are sitting, but once they stand up and start moving towards the stage to get their diploma's, they have to zip them up. There is someone actually standing at the bottom of the ramp up to the stage, to A make sure this is done and B help anybody who needs it get up the ramp.

 

[keiraliz]

I concur.
The only student I've seen with her gown unzipped, was too large to zip the gown. Otherwise, I would have asked her to zip it before entering the ceremony.

But I'll take this time to complain about my graduation regalia pet peeve -- the mortarboard hat being worn cocked back on the head. My favorite teacher in HS really hammered home that a mortarboard hat should be parallel to the ground -- it's not about fashion and shouldn't be moved to an angle so your hair can look cute. After hearing her give that speech 100 times, it must have sunk in because now I feel the same way. The graduation ceremony I organize is for college, so I don't actually give them this lecture, but internally I can't help but groan when I see them worn incorrectly.

Ugh, that's my graduation regalia pet peeve too, for the exact same reason. I wore my mortarboard the correct way for both my high school and college graduations, but I have a friend who decided to be really fashionable with her high school mortarboard. It was pinned to the back of her head, and when her principal moved her tassel to the left, "graduated" side, it actually slipped off and just hung there in the back. It looked so silly. When she graduated from college, she learned from her mistake and had her mortarboard parallel to the ground. It looked much better, IMO.

 

[justgrace]

Was it mostly girls or boys? I know I've seen a lot of girls who unzip them to show off the dress they have on underneath. Our school was very strict on graduation - we had to march to the beat of the music, go in exact placement, walk steady, gowns had to be nicely presented, look professional, nice shoes, nice dress for girls, dress pants for boys, tie for boys, etc. No way would unzipped gowns fly with our graduation coordinator. If she saw someone do such a thing, she probably would have ran up on stage and took their diploma away from them!

Although, I wish I would have unzipped mine for pictures afterward, it looked so bulky and I didn't get to show my cute dress off!

 

[bcla]

So it was outdoors? My HS graduation was indoors.

College was a different matter. Outdoors, wearing a suit, and a traditional black gown. It was at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley, which is a concrete half-bowl. It was brutal sitting there in the heat. I didn't notice anyone with the zipper down.

 

[runwad]

My DD just graduated last month. Everyone had their gowns zipped to go across the stage but once the ceremony was over they all had them unzipped. Even before the ceremony trying to get pictures of DD she wanted her gown unzipped and I wanted it zipped!

When I graduated moons ago we kept our gowns zipped, I don't remember unzipping it until I took it off.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

I unzipped mine just to show a bit of cleavage...

Someone on Facebook told me it was the "new thing to do".

 

[low-key]

The more informal and self expression in ones clothe the more I like it

 

[WorldWacky]

I unzipped mine just to show a bit of cleavage...

Someone on Facebook told me it was the "new thing to do".

 

[Hrhpd]

If the school allows it, I have no choice but to not worry about it. My child's will be zipped, but I can't push my preferences on others as long as the school allows differences.

 

[jbcheerchick93]

At my college graduation recently we were almost all unzipped, and a lot of us girls took our gowns, hoods, stoles, and caps off. It was 95 that day and not a cloud in the sky, no water or anything. About 1/4 of us even left to go get water bottles at some point during the speeches it was that bad!

In my HS it was waaaay stricter. Girls were required to wear white gowns and white shoes, boys had to wear dark dress pants and light colored shirts with a dark tie. Really just very strict, but my parents loved how casual and fun the college ceremony was. It made us all feel a lot more relaxed and I was able to listen and enjoy instead of think about the beads of sweat dripping off of my in the polyester body bag...I mean "gown"...

 

[PollyannaMom]

I went to my niece's last night, and didn't see any unzipped. A lot of the kids decorated their mortarboards, though.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Geez I sound old, but back in my day that would have been totally unacceptable. I have been to graduations in recent years in fact (as recently as 2015), still never saw anything like that.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

My high school was too hard nosed for that. We all had to wear exactly what they specified under our gowns, thr correct shoes, girls hair had to be worn down, robes had to be zipped. They didn't let one kid walk across the stage because he had a tongue ring in. Like anyone in the audience would have seen that. It wasn't even a private school, just a very small school in rurall Alabama. They were very old fashioned and set in their ways.

 

[marthachick]

DS graduated in 2010. Three of his female friends came to school for graduation dressed in their nice dresses. Went into the restrooms and came out with their gowns all zipped and in place. We found out later they had bikinis on under their dresses and removed the dresses in the restroom. They were sure to have their gowns zipped!

 

[Rhie]

I don't really see a problem as long as they have clothes on underneath. Those gowns are itchy and gross.

 

[MickeySP]

As long as they aren't naked - MEH