The History of Wizard Robes

Getty medievalist Larisa Grollemond discusses the real history of magical fashion

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Art & Architecture

A jewel-toned painting of two figures in a library alcove: a man in a maroon robe with a blue cape and hood, and a woman in a maroon robe with a sheer, white head covering — *The Wizard* (detail), 1896/1898, Edward Burne-Jones. Oil on canvas, 37 x 22 in. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1912P17

Apr 19, 2023

Ever wonder why wizards wear robes?

Wizards aren't real (sorry to disappoint) but these fictional characters wear actual robes to evoke a medieval feel of a timeless world of magic and sorcery.

Detail from a manuscript page where an illumination depicts two groups of friars, one group dressed in black robes and the other group in grey, at the bottom margin. An angel is depicted above them — *Initial C: The Nativity*, about 1250–1262, Italian. Tempera and gold leaf, 10 9/16 × 7 3/4 in. Getty Museum, Ms. 107 (2011.23), fol. 224

Robes were commonly worn by real citizens of the middle ages, namely scholars. The tradition associating robes and scholars goes back to 12th-century Europe, when the first universities were founded.

An illuminated manuscript page. The top image features a lecturer in a chair, speaking to roughly a dozen people. They are all under a pergola. Text is below it. The border features birds — *Mélanges Théologiques*, 1301-1325, French. Parchment, 8 × 5 in. The National French Library, French 13342.

Many of the students at Europe's first medieval universities were clergy, and, in the first college towns, their robes marked them as different from the regular townspeople.

A detail of an illuminated manuscript featuring a monk in a chair, writing in a book. Several other monks sit on the floor in front of him. One holds a book aloft — *L'image du Monde,* 1464, Gautier de Metz. British Library, Catalog of Illuminated Manuscripts

Academic robes continued to be worn by European scholars well into the 16th century. The colors of those robes often denoted rank or status (like at the imaginary Hogwarts, where each school house had designated colors.)

A decorated title page. The text reads "La theotechnie, ergocosmique, cesta dire, L'Art de Doei, ent'orage, det vniuers." Naked babies hold a garland underneath it. Monks read books beneath them — *La Theotechnie Ergocosmique* (detail). Frontispiece from Annibal Barlet, *Le vray et methodique cours de la physique resolutiue* (Paris: 1653). Getty Research Institute, 2916-907

Printed images of alchemists, like the 17th-century example above, often show these “wizards” in robes—a gradual conflation of medieval science and the idea of magic.

Over time, the medieval period was associated with magic and superstition, and the robes of clergy and academics morphed into the standard dress for wizards and anyone else trying to sartorially channel the Middle Ages.

A painting of a lecture hall. Everyone wears academic robes. A man on a throne reads from a book to two rows of seated students on other side of an aisle — *L'image du Monde*, 1537, French. British Library, Catalog of Illuminated Manuscripts, Royal 19 A IX f. 4

And this medieval connection is why, at many universities, students still wear caps and gowns at graduation. Which, if you think about it, makes education the truest sorcery.