The Mortarboard

The mortarboard. A fashion "do" or a fashion "don't?"

Believed to have originated during medieval times, the mortarboard has been a mainstay of graduation attire ever since. Somehow, all of those intervening years have done little to endear users to this decidedly awkward headwear. For me, it definitely falls in the "don't" category.

When I was in high school, girls wore this signature hat almost perpendicular to the ground, balanced precariously on the back of the head, secured by a dozen or so well-positioned bobby pins. This particular framing rendered our "Farrah Fawcett flip" unharmed, the feathered layers of curls that framed our 1970's faces. Conversely, our male counterparts cared little about their hair. They were singularly fixated on how far they could fling their caps at ceremony's end, strewn by way of an underhanded flick of the wrist.

An estimated 3.9 million U.S. high school graduates will celebratorily move their mortarboard tassels during this upcoming Commencement season. Now that's a fashion statement we can all get behind!

"There is something about a mortarboard that gives otherwise sane and normal people the overwhelming urge to burden you with advice." - Alexandra Petri