Chinese students spice up graduation dresses, gowns and caps with more fashionable looks
As university graduation season comes around again, more students in mainland China and Hong Kong are tossing away traditional mortarboards and gowns for alternatives that are more colourful and fashionable.
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On the social media platform RedNote – also known as Xiaohongshu – white graduation dresses are a much-discussed topic, with views of related posts reaching over 2 million. Meanwhile, more than 174,000 posts on Instagram have the tag #graduationdress.
Chinese-American freestyle skiing world champion
Eileen Gu inspired many when she wore a white fitted dress beneath her graduation gown in 2020.
Jessica Luo, a student who had her graduation ceremony at Hong Kong Baptist University in early June, opted for a similar look.
'If I pick a dress with lots of sequins or very bright colours, it would be too much like an evening gown and wouldn't match the elegant effect I want to present at the ceremony,' she says. 'So I opted for a classic white fitted knee-length dress. It's simple yet sophisticated.'
Hong Kong Baptist University student Jessica Luo wore a classic white fitted knee-length dress under her graduation robes. Photo: Jessica Luo
Adding in lighter colours like ivory or champagne is becoming more popular as such tones balance the dark academic robes while keeping things understated.
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