Sub Fusc
Sub fusc, coming from the Latin for ‘beneath black’, is the academic dress of the University of Oxford. It is designed to be hot and inconvenient for students but novel and worth photographing for Oxford’s tourists.Sub fusc is defined by being worn underneath a gown of some variety.
Men
Men are required to wear a dark suit, black shoes and socks, a white shirt and a white bow-tie.
Women
Women wear a black skirt with tights, a white blouse, black shoes and a black ribbon around their neck. They can also get away with trousers.
Occasions
Sub fusc should be worn under a variety of circumstances, including in the presence of the University Chancellor or other academic officials, Matriculation, during public exams and for assorted other activities.
Exams
Sub fusc is specially adorned with an appropriately-coloured carnation by students taking exams, which it is reputedly unlucky to buy for oneself. They vary in colour from white (for the first exam of a given set) through pink (for intermediate ones) to red (for the last one). This allows those who have completed their examinations to be singled out and covered in things by way of enforced revelry.
It is said that the carnations vary in colour to symbolise the flow of blood-stained tears from examinees, so for short sets of exams (unlike Honour Moderations in Classics) it is actually cheaper to buy just one carnation, and weep blood gradually over it.