Chinese students spice up graduation wear 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.

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.

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.”

Adding in lighter colours like ivory or champagne is becoming more popular as such tones balance the dark academic robes while keeping things understated.