What to wear to a graduation

The gown is worn over ordinary clothes, with the hood over the shoulders. Wear a dark suit — navy, charcoal or mid grey — with a white or pale shirt. Some universities set rules for what is worn beneath the gown, so read the ceremony notes before you choose.

Ceremonies are long, halls are warm and the gown is another layer. A lightweight suit is kinder than a heavy one, and braces keep the trousers hanging straight through a long sit without a belt digging in.

If you hire your gown, collect it in good time and try it on over the suit you will wear; a gown sits differently over a heavy jacket. And polish your shoes. You will walk across a stage in them, in front of everyone you know.

The collar and tie show above the gown in every photograph, so they are the part of your clothes everyone will see. Choose a silk tie in a clear, mid-strength colour — navy, wine, mid blue or green — that stands out against a black gown and sits happily with the colour of the hood.

A half Windsor fills a shirt collar neatly and is symmetrical, which a camera likes. Pull it up to the collar and centre it before every photograph; the hood has a way of tugging it sideways.

Choose a shirt whose collar stands up well on its own. A semi-spread collar with stiffeners frames the knot neatly, and it keeps its shape under the weight of a hood.

Some graduates wear a tie in their college or university colours, or in a colour taken from the hood. It is optional, and a pleasant nod to the place. If you don’t have the official stripe, a plain silk tie in one of the colours says the same thing more quietly.

Whatever you choose, keep it to one statement. A striped college tie with a patterned shirt and a loud pocket square is three statements, and the photographs will hear all of them.

The family is in the photographs too, and the day is formal without being a wedding. Wear a suit, or a blazer and trousers, with a pressed shirt and a tie with some colour in it. It is a proud day, and a tie can show it: a paisley, a floral, a cheerful polka dot.

Add a pocket square that shares one colour with the tie. For a summer ceremony, a light grey suit or a linen jacket; for a winter one, navy or tweed and a scarf for the walk between the hall and lunch.

Grandparents may want warmth more than fashion, and quite right. A wool tie and a tweed jacket are entirely correct at a winter ceremony, and a good scarf is a kindness on a cold quad.

A new tie is a good present for a graduate — for the ceremony, and for the interviews that follow it. For ideas, see the gift guide.

• Knot pulled up to the collar and centred.
• Jacket buttoned when standing — the top button of two, never the bottom.
• Tie tip at the waistband, so it doesn’t hang below the jacket.
• Plain ties and larger patterns photograph better than very fine stripes or tiny checks, which can shimmer on camera.
• Shoes polished; they show in every full-length picture.

Many graduations end with a ball, and a ball usually means black tie: a dinner suit, a white dress shirt and a black bow tie. Self-tie is the proper thing and worth learning — see how to tie a bow tie. Pre-tied is adjustable and quick, and nobody is checking at two in the morning.

Black satin is the classic. A wine or paisley bow tie is a common liberty at a student ball; at a formal dinner, keep to black. For the rest of the rules, see black tie explained.

The ball is long. Late in the evening a self-tie bow can be left undone at the neck — the one time an untied bow looks right — while a pre-tied bow simply unhooks.