What to wear to your graduation?

I’m trying to post a few of 2013 posts before January ends!

I had seen everything from formal gowns to shorts and flip flops worn. But for my PhD graduation I wanted something special and ladylike. I guess here is when the color of your gown plays an important role, you can either match it or contrast it for a pulled together and effective look. Ours was black and I had several options. Planning my outfit a week beforehand, I tried a high contrast look with a white dress and didn’t like it. I’m more a matching kinda of gal, I could go with black or gray. Trying the dresses and gown together showed me that my best option is a dark gray (black on black was too much!). My dress was form fitting and I left the gown open.

Gown: I hemmed it a bit to the best length for me, just below the knees.

Bag: a compact clutch with a thin strap fitted well under my gown and I was able to carry my lipstick, compact mirror (handy before photos) and cellphone!

Shoes: high heel pumps. Uncomfortable specially for standing up for three hours. But a sacrifice well worth it. They were essential to the whole look!

Jewelry: I added a gold school pin to my gown for some visual interest and a chunky sparkly necklace to improve the look of the outfit with my hood on. Without the necklace it would look like the hood was suffocating me!

Hair: I took my cap to the hair salon and discuss my options with my stylist. We decided to add some layers around my face so the cap won’t add too much length to my face.

Makeup: clean and minimal for me.

Overall rating: very happy with the whole outfit. It was formal and professional and a bit festive.

Edited: here are what I wore to my qualifying exam and to my Defense session.