Virginia Military Institute

Virginia

1839

official hood lining pattern
A felt pennant from 1944.
A felt pennant from the 1950s.

Citations in the World Almanac (listed by cover date; color information is from the previous year): red/white/yellow (1915-1935)

By 1927 the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume (IBAC) had assigned Virginia Military Institute a hood lined red above gold, with a “wide” white chevron between them. This chevron was defined as seven inches in width in a 1972 IBAC list (the standard width of a chevron was typically between four and five inches). Why the Bureau used a wide chevron is not known, but because the “wide chevron” pattern can be easily mistaken for a “per chevron” pattern when the hood is properly folded and worn, here a standard-width chevron has been used. The Bureau also substituted “gold” for the institute’s official yellow; here yellow has been used.

The hood lining pattern for Virginia Military Institute, according to Kevin Sheard in Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970). It is the official Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume heraldic pattern, redesigned as a tri-chevron on a field of gray (the color of the VMI cadet jacket).
scarlet
white
yellow

The earliest colors of the Virginia Military Institute were black and white, but in 1896 an alumnus suggested that the colors be changed to those of the artillery, infantry, and cavalry. So from 1897-1899 the colors were scarlet (artillery), white (infantry), and orange (cavalry). To more accurately describe the golden yellow color of the cavalry, the VMI changed “orange” to “yellow” in 1900.

An automobile window decal from the 1950s.

In Academic Heraldry in America (1962), Kevin Sheard said that VMI was not using an academic hood for commencement ceremonies. But in Academic Dress and Insignia of the World (1970), Sheard updated his data to report that the institute was now using a hood lined gray with a tri-chevron of red, white, and yellow (top to bottom). This contradicted the Intercollegiate Bureau list from 1972 mentioned above, which cited the institute’s original (pre-1927) hood lining pattern.

Here, the Intercollegiate Bureau of Academic Costume lining pattern has been privileged.