General Regulation X (A):
"4. It is the custom under normal circumstances for all undergraduates to
wear gowns at the Matriculation Ceremony. However, undergraduates will
not be prevented from attending the ceremony if they are unable to
procure a gown. It is recommended that members of the University
attending services in the Cathedral should wear gowns."
However, there have been at least six different gowns specified for different disciplines in the past, and as far as I am aware, none of these have been suppressed, and all subjects continue to be taught within the University - Medicine having returned through the erection of a new joint teaching programme with the University of Newcastle, based at Stockton. For the sake of confirmation, the gown variants are set down below, in approximate order of entry into the Calendar. First and last Calendar appearances are noted in square brackets, where known, description in brackets, last official description asterisked:
Arts and Commerce: [1890-] (Oxford Scholar's shape, *Black cord, with short square sleeve, with open vent*)
Scholar's (Oxford Scholar's shape, *Same as above but with short closed sleeves *)
Theology [1890-mid 1920s] (*Black cord, long pointed sleeve*)
Medicine [1892] (*The same as Arts, with gimp trimming on sleeve*)
Science [1892] (Oxford Scholar's shape, *The same as Arts, with black velvet trimming on sleeves* - consensus is from shoulder to forearm seam)
Education [1909] (Same as Arts)
Undergraduate [1928] (Similar to Oxford's commoners, *a short sleeveless gown (regulation pattern) of dark blue purple cord, with square yoke*) - optional in replacement for any of the above [except Scholar's], introduced in the late 1920s and, it seems, not widely taken up, although certainly worn at Bede College in the late 1930s.
At the university's foundation circumstantial evidence suggests that undergraduates not scholars wore the short Oxford commoners gown or one modelled after it - e.g. punning references in the Durham University Journal to undergraduates having petitioned the University for a replacement for their short gown, and having been "redressed". This original short gown was subsequently replaced by the longer gown currently worn, modelled on the Oxford Scholars' gown. It is likely that this gown was generic to all undergraduates, although possibly supplemented by the Theology gown.
The Arts gown is now in practice the "default" undergraduate gown. Junior Commons Rooms (JCRs) of those colleges which still maintain a tradition of academic dress buy gowns in bulk to resell to freshers at the start of the first term and no doubt prefer to buy just the one type for reasons of economy. As noted above, in default of evidence of any of the old gowns having been suppressed, there appears to be nothing to stop undergraduates studying the appropriate disciplines wearing the old faculty gowns and isolated examples of the Theology and Science gowns are still "doing the rounds", being passed down from undergraduate to undergraduate, much as the few remaining Literate's hoods are.
In terms of material, most undergraduate gowns are made of polyester. However, in the mid-late 1990s some gowns were available in a lightweight black cotton and could be seen worn by some undergraduate. Again, some are fortunate to have examples in Russell cord, or in a heavier black cotton dating back to the 1960s or before. The earliest regulations state that the gowns should be cord and it is of course open to undergraduates to have their gowns specially made in this material. Currently all undergraduate gowns are sourced from Grey's, the Durham Robemakers, although other robemakers have been used in the past, e.g. "Mel-Jay" and examples with various makers' labels can be found.
In addition to these, as has been noted, St. Chad's College has taken advantage of its position as an independent college within the University to specify a distinctive gown, as follows:
"Undergraduates wear the College undergraduate gown ..., which is the same as the University of Durham undergraduate gown, except for the addition of a college green twisted cord (approx. 5 in long), held by two black buttons on each of the bottom vent edges of the sleeves."
[Source: http://www.dur.ac.uk/StChads/academic-dress.html]
It is unclear how generally this modified gown has been worn in practice.
Postgraduate members of University College enjoy a special dispensation from the Master enabling them to wear the Arts Undegraduate gown in lieu of the gown of their degree whilst in residence at the college.
In addition to University matriculation, gowns are worn at a number of colleges for formal hall and may be required for other, college-specific events, such as college matriculation, drinks with tutors, and so forth. Outside the university Durham undergraduates, as with all members of the university, are entitled to wear their academical dress within the precincts of the cathedral, and are invited (if no longer instructed) to do so in the University regulations.
