Meet the alum who helped Vivienne Westwood create King’s graduation gowns

Father Philip Goff (Theology, 1973) is a proud King’s alum and a respected expert on academic robes. He also worked with ‘godmother of punk’ and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood to turn her imaginative designs into our current graduation gowns.

It was as a 10-year-old chorister in his parish church choir that Philip first became fascinated by the different coloured garments of silk and, sometimes, fur that the clergy wore at services. And he was intrigued to learn that they were hoods representing university degrees

Childhood intrigue

While school friends collected cigarette cards or toy soldiers, Philip chose to learn more about university costume. At school, long before the internet, he chose the subject as coursework for an English examination and persuaded his classmates to help him write to all the universities in the UK, requesting details of their gowns and hoods.

He also wrote to all the robemakers he found in the directories of his local library, several of whom sent him information, as well as some of their unwanted hoods and gowns. By the time he was 14, Philip was helping with the robing at the huge University of London graduation ceremonies in the Royal Albert Hall. During his summer holidays, he was also working at Ede & Ravenscroft robemakers and tailors.

From King’s to a career

In 1970, Philip came to King’s College London to read Theology. After graduating and further study, he was ordained. A four-year curacy, a school chaplaincy and seven years as a parish priest in Wembley followed, after which he left the ministry for a while and retrained as a Counsellor.

During this time, Philip was walking on the Strand, where he bumped into the Managing Director of Ede & Ravenscroft, the place he’d worked as a boy. The Managing Director asked Philip if he was still interested in academic costume and offered him a part-time consultancy with them. At the time, many polytechnics were receiving their charters as universities, meaning the company suddenly found itself with several institutions all in need of new designs for their academic costumes.

A passion rekindled

Shortly after Philip accepted the role, the Managing Director died suddenly at his desk and Philip found himself thrown into the deep end with the task of designing new costumes. This involved liaising with the University of London, its many colleges and schools, and other universities and colleges.

Around the same time, he returned to a church job: first as chaplain to one of the London bishops, then as a parish priest and dean in North London.

Philip has been involved with designing systems of dress for universities ever since. In 1999, he authored the book University of London Academic Dress, and published many further articles on the subject. He also writes up the academic dress regulations for the University of London, and several other universities.

A return to King’s

Philip supervised the robing at King’s presentation ceremonies for several years and designed the new King’s College London diploma dress. When King’s received its own degree-awarding powers in 2007, Philip met with Baroness Rawlings, Chair of King’s College London Council from 1998–2007, and acclaimed fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood. He gave advice about the history of academic costume and subsequently oversaw the process of turning Westwood’s imaginative ideas into reality.

Vivienne chose the colours from the silks he sourced, and Philip assigned them to the various subjects. The only exception was the lilac used for nursing, which Vivienne had particularly wanted to choose because of her own connection to the profession.

New society and reflections

For the last 10 years, Philip has been retired. But he’s still a busy man. ‘I divide my time between Bangkok and the UK,’ he explains. ‘I’m a keen beekeeper, so I return to the UK each spring to take care of my bees and enjoy the English spring and summer.’

Philip says his own experiences can provide useful life lessons for current students and graduates at King’s.

‘My involvement with academic dress grew out of a childhood hobby,’ he muses. ‘Being paid as an adult for something you enjoyed as a 10-year-old is rather satisfying. I’d advise any fellow King’s students or alumni to nurture your hobbies. Who knows where they might lead you!’

Philip’s article, The Academic Dress of the Associates of King’s College London, is published in Transactions of the Burgon Society.