{"id":146444,"date":"2022-11-10T12:20:23","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T11:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=146444"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:30","slug":"campus-as-catwalk-what-do-you-wear-under-your-robe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/11\/10\/campus-as-catwalk-what-do-you-wear-under-your-robe\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus as catwalk: what do you wear under your gown?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hip, hip, hooray! The university is 109 and so the EUR is celebrating Dies Natalis (foundation day). Now what do you, as a professor, wear at this festive event? Your gown, of course. Protocol also dictates what you should wear underneath it: smart, black shoes and no jeans. But attitudes to these rules change over time, as we see at the entrance to the Aula.<\/p>\n

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Protocol dictates what to wear under a academic gown. The ideas on this do change<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGeisje van der Linden<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Red is no coincidence <\/h2>
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The red of the law faculty is deliberately reflected in the shoes of dean Harri\u00ebt Schelhaas.<\/span><\/p>

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Harri\u00ebt Schelhaas, Professor of Private Law and Dean of the Erasmus School of Law, has a hint of red on her black shoes. Precisely the red of the Faculty of Law. \u201cThis certainly isn\u2019t a coincidence\u201d, says Schelhaas about her fashion choice. The colours of each faculty have a special significance for the members of that faculty. \u201cEveryone is wearing smart shoes. According to the rules, men have to wear a tie, so I always wear a necklace\u201d, she adds, pointing to her rainbow-coloured necklace.<\/p>\n

Out of respect for the beadle <\/h2>
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After some hesitation, Erasmus professor Moniek Buijzen chose her Dr Martens Adrians after all.<\/span><\/p>

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That morning, Moniek Buijzen, Professor of Communication and Behavioural Change at the ESSB and now also Erasmus Professor<\/a>, was still having doubts about sneakers. One time, she wore a pair of sneakers at a doctorate conferral and someone commented on them. So this time, she decided on a pair of Dr Martens Adrians. \u201cSo I am actually wearing black shoes \u2013 not out of respect for protocol, but out of respect for the person taking the role of beadle.\u201d And the jeans she\u2019s wearing under her gown? \u201cOh yes, but I\u2019ve never heard anything about these being forbidden.\u201d<\/p>\n

'These shoes aren't actually allowed'<\/h2>
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Well, actually they should be plain black shoes, former rector Steven Lamberts knows. Yet no one will call him out on these proper shoes.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cThese shoes aren\u2019t actually allowed\u201d, says Steven Lamberts, former Rector Magnificus (2004-2009). \u201cThese were the hip shoes back in my day.\u201d The black leather shoes have a pattern on them, and according to Lamberts are not really suitable for official occasions. They should be plain black. Then, he has to laugh when he sees that the shoes of his colleague former Rector Huib Pols don\u2019t have laces but a buckle instead. \u201cHa, then my shoes are actually the most appropriate here. They have laces, and that\u2019s a requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Somebody commented on that type of shoe at my inaugural lecture\u2019<\/h2>
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Most people do not see the buckle on former rector magnificus Huib Pols' shoes because the gown is hanging over them.<\/span><\/p>

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The shoes worn by Pols, who is also a former Rector (2013-2018), are smart and plain black. \u201cI wore shoes similar to those (pointing to Lamberts\u2019 patterned shoes) for my inaugural lecture, and someone commented on them. The shoes were supposed to be plain black.\u201d Pols says these are not his smartest shoes, but they are pretty comfortable. \u201cAnd that\u2019s worth a lot, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re not that strict at the ISS\u2019<\/h2>
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She chose Professor Karin Arts' blue heels because they go well with both the gown and her dress.<\/span><\/p>

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Karin Arts, Professor of International Law and Development and a member of the International Institute of Social Studies, has gone for dark-blue heels. \u201cI do make sure that the shoes match the gown\u201d, she says. But the faculty colour for the ISS is beige\/champagne, and so the stole of the gown has the same colour. \u201cAt the ISS, we\u2019re not as strict as they are here\u201d, says Arts with regard to the dress code at official occasions. But slippers really would be beyond the pale, because the shoes still have to be smart.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Take a look at these photos<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t