Graduation dresses to wear under your gown and beyond

Graduation day is long, and your graduation dress has to last through all of it, from the cap and gown in the morning to photos on the lawn, lunch with your grandparents and maybe a party at night. We make them in satin, velvet, jersey, rib knit and lurex, in lengths from mini to the floor.

Ten in the morning, under the robe

For the ceremony itself, most people only see a strip of your dress. The neckline, the hem and a bit of the front where the robe falls open. That’s why length comes first. A mini or a knee-length style stays well above the robe’s hem, and a midi works if your robe is on the short side. What looks odd is a hem that sticks out an inch below it.

Necklines matter more than you’d think. Under the yoke of a robe, a round or V-neck stays flat and out of the way. A high collar is the gamble. At home, put the dress on, throw a big button-down shirt over your shoulders like a robe, and look in the mirror. If the collar bunches up against the hood there, it’ll do it on stage.

Keep sleeves narrow. Puffy ones fight the robe all morning.

Short satin wraps and florals for a ceremony in the sun

Hot day, folding chairs on the grass, two hours of names. For that we’d point you to our short satin wraps. The tie sits at your waist and the neckline is a V. White is the obvious one for graduation, and that white wrap is long-sleeved, mini length, sewn from polyester and elastane. Beige or silver strappy sandals. Pearl earrings. If light blue or lilac suits you better, we sew those too.

Heels and a lawn don’t mix. Walk out in flats and change at the car.

There are floral wraps and polka dot cuts too, mostly mini and midi with short sleeves. Between September and February the summer pieces are hidden from the catalog. In March they’re back. Pick your graduation dress early, try it on, and you won’t be rushing at the end of the school year. If white is the plan, look at our white styles for graduation day.

A winter ceremony in velvet or angora

Not every graduation happens in summer. Mid-year ceremonies fall in the cold months, and a big auditorium can stay chilly until it fills up. A graduation dress with long sleeves makes sense then. Our velvet with long sleeves comes in black for the safe bet, and in burgundy if you’d like some color next to a black robe. For something softer, there’s the gray-blue mini in an angora-blend knit with a stand collar. It’s warm like a thin sweater and it doesn’t itch.

Want a short hem with your arms covered? Our velvet wrap minis do exactly that. On the burgundy one you choose how deep the neckline goes, and the marsala wrap measures 88 cm from top to hem.

For a bit of sparkle, there’s a purple lurex mini that covers your arms and sits close to the body. Seamless underwear, black ankle boots and a cropped faux leather jacket.

After the diploma, before the party

Lunch first. Then the evening. You don’t need a second outfit for that, honestly. Heels back on. Bigger earrings, a jacket, and that’s your evening look. If the party’s fancier than the ceremony was, browse our dresses for cocktail parties, and for a proper ball we sew velvet gowns that touch the floor, several with a slit at the leg. One of them is champagne gold with a single sleeve, and another is white velvet with one bare shoulder.

Every style comes in XS to XL. A medium runs roughly a US 6–8.