It seems to be more and more, all Halloween costumes for women are “sexy” costumes for women. Of course the definition for sexy being showing as much skin as possible. This Halloween, some company named Delicious has given us Delicious Women’s Phd Darling Sexy Costume. This probably sounds stupid, but the only reason this one particular “sexy” woman’s costume annoys me more than others (they all annoy me truthfully), is that this is not Doctor of Philosophy, or any other doctoral regalia. I mean if you are going to demean an entire group of people like female PhDs, at least get your costume close to correct. This costume is not even a Master’s regalia; it is a Bachelor’s regalia with honors. That gold “sash” is a stole, similar to what Bachelor graduates wear if they are a member of an honor society or have high scholastic honors, depending on the school.
Academic dress differs by country, but I am sure this is meant to be United States regalia. So let’s review what is wrong.
1. I’ll just ignore the length of the gown at this point. Because SEXY!
2. The sleeves are too short and should balloon out as bell sleeves. Yes, yes, I know, but sexy means more skin!
3. The sleeves do not feature three velvet bands on the upper arm.
4. There should be two velvet bands running vertically down the length of the gown.
5. It has no hood. The Master’s regalia has a hood that goes about halfway down the back of the torso, and the Doctoral regalia has a hood that goes all the way down the back of the torso. The hood features different colors that designate your specific academic field.
6. The head gear is wrong. Head gear can differ, but normally Doctoral regalia features a tam which can be 4, 6, or 8 sided. The tam is normally velvet also and is softer looking and puffier than the mortar board Bachelors wear.
To demonstrate the difference, below is me in my Doctoral regalia after I graduated. Sorry for the weird blurred out face, but I want some anonymity. However, let me be clear, my actual, hard earned Doctoral regalia is sexy. You know why? Because I am smart enough to become a Ph.D. Because I worked my butt off for six years to earn it, not to mention the four for a Bachelor’s and two for a Master’s. Because mine is REAL. Because sexy is not just about the body, it is also about the mind.
So Delicious and all other makers of “sexy” women’s costumes, why don’t you go demean men for a change?
Me in my Ph.D. regalia
Me in my Ph.D. regalia
I adore your critique. Thank you for posting about this!