Before we start…
If you just need a checklist, see the Sub fusc/academic dress quickstart guide here.
What is Sub Fusc?
Sub fusc + Academic dress = Full Academic Dress
Sub fusc comes from the Latin, and means ‘(of) subdued colour’. Strictly, therefore, it refers to the clothes that are worn under the gown (and with the other items of academic paraphernalia) and with Academic Dress to form Full Academic Dress: not to the full ensemble. In reality, because sub fusc is referred to as such in no other context (you’d usually see ‘dark lounge suit’ elsewhere) the two (sub fusc and Full Academic Dress) are often coterminous. The intended effect is largely monochromatic: blacks, greys, whites only.
Academic Dress is then the stuff (but only the stuff) that gets layered on top of sub fusc. This includes your academic gown and your cap, whichever you choose to wear. You can be in Academic Dress without being in sub fusc: just pop your gown over whatever you’re wearing and optionally put your cap on.
Full Academic Dress is Academic Dress over Sub Fusc. Full fig, accept no substitutes.
When do I Wear Sub Fusc/FAD?
Full Academic Dress (Sub Fusc+Academic Dress) is worn at all University ceremonies. For the purposes of the vast majority of you, this is limited to Matriculation, Examinations, and Graduation.
What Can I Wear?
Historically, sub fusc was a gendered dress code, with differing prescriptions for men and women. This is no longer the case. Start with one of the following options:
1A. Dark suit (matching jacket+trousers)
1B. Dark trousers
1C. Dark skirt (jacket optional)
All of these must be worn with black socks, tights, or stockings which additionally must cover the ankle entirely. There should be no gap between the bottom of the trouser leg or skirt and the top of the socks or stockings. This means you’ll need long socks/stockings/hose if you choose (1C). Combine these with:
2. Plain white collared shirt or blouse with sleeves
3. Plain black shoes with dark sole
And finally, choose your neckwear:
4A. White bow-tie
4B. Black bow-tie
4C. Black long tie
4D. Black ribbon.
Some Examples
Phew! You’re done with sub fusc. Let’s take a look at these real life exemplars.
First from left has decided on 1C (dark skirt – but with what appears to be a coat) and 4D (ribbon).
Fourth from left wears 1C (dark skirt – no coat or jacket) and 4D (ribbon)
Rightmost wears 1A (dark suit) and 4A (white bow-tie).
This chap wears 1A (dark suit) and 4B (black bow-tie).
Disambiguation and Common Worries
The proctors and their officers (the people in charge of university discipline), as well as examination invigilators, appear to have been instructed not to enforce the strict letter of the dress code to the hilt. Gone are the days when you would be sent home to change from Examination Schools for wearing grey socks.
Socks that are not perfectly black have been accepted in the past, and so have black Doc Martens for shoes (as long as they are all black).
However, please do try your best to follow the dress code. Not only are a lot of the bits useful for daily life (a good dark suit will follow you after your Oxford life, and bow ties can be used for the formal dress codes), I have always felt that sub fusc lends a sense of occasion to the academic exercises to which they are worn.
Academic Dress
There will generally only be one type of gown appropriate to you.
If you are just starting as an undergraduate, the Commoners’ Gown will be yours, unless you hold a choral or organ scholarship.
If you hold those scholarships, they will usually come with a Scholars’ Gown, so make sure to buy that instead. Those of you without will have a chance to change gowns by doing well in your first-year examinations, and you may find that this supplies good motivation so to do.
If you are just starting as a post-graduate student, the Advanced Students’ Gown is what you require. Ensure this goes to your knees or close to it.
L-R Commoners’, Scholars’, and Advanced Students’ Gowns.
You, however, get a choice of hat. The choice, since the dress code went gender-neutral, is yours.
Combining sub fusc and Academic Dress, you get Full Academic Dress.
Recommendations
What follows are my recommendations based on what is traditionally worn and has been appropriate in the past. You are free to disregard them, but some choices are more unconventional than others.
Choose a jacket: go with a jacket if it’s not too warm – so suits for gentlemen, and jacket+skirt or suit for ladies. This not only sets you up for your post-university career where professional business dress will be (at least occasionally) required, but is more aesthetically pleasing when wearing the Commoners’ or Advanced Students’ Gowns because it dispenses with the large areas of white shirt emanating from the arm-slits of those gowns.
Jacket/suit colour: if you’re planning on only buying one suit, make it black, because in a pinch it’ll do double duty as a dinner jacket when worn with a black bow-tie. However, if you’re planning on buying more than one suit (and your dinner jacket), a charcoal (dark to mid grey) suit is more appropriate. As with neckwear, pure black is traditionally considered a mourning colour.
Neckwear: the traditional choice is the white bow-tie for gentlemen, and the black ribbon for ladies. Avoid the long black tie (i.e. a normal tie, but all black) because it connotes mourning, especially when worn with a dark suit. Avoid also the black bow-tie, in my opinion, but it is less of a faux pas than the long black tie. Learn to tie a self-tie bow-tie here.
Make it self-tied: a self-tied bow-tie is infinitely preferred to the pre-tied version, not only because it demonstrates that you have put in the effort to learn to tie one, but because the asymmetry lends it a bit of verve. Pre-tied for examinations, however, when getting it on and off quickly is of essence: at least when I sat them, it was necessary to be fully dressed again on leaving.
Lord Peter Wimsey: This bowtie is a mess.
Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, 1987 Television Adaptation
Bunter: Yes, too perfect. Quite like a made-up affair.
(He adjusts the tie)
Lord Peter Wimsey: Bunter, how’s that?
Bunter: Perfect. That is to say, slightly flawed. The mark of a true gentleman.
Caps: I do have a soft spot for the Oxford Ladies’ Cap on the ladies, but I have probably lost that battle. Even though it derives from the medieval Canterbury Cap, however, it is most incongruent on gentlemen. Do avoid the temptation to stand out in this respect.
Accessories: keep accessories discreet. Colourful pocket squares are out, as are flashy lapel pins. Cufflinks, inasmuch as they are usually concealed by the sleeve of the jacket, are a good opportunity to display some of the personal touch.
The Official Word
The University maintains its official page on academic dress here.