Which UC are you from? I’m an alum of Santa Cruz and we have lots of fun colours also. I assumed Santa Cruz is this way b/c it was structured after English universities.

Actually, every university has its own colorful regalia; Harvard is in Crimson with a jaunty little tam, for example, and some distinct disciplines have their own color coding on the stripes of that garb (engineering is orange, for example). European universities often have very, very flamboyant regalia that has varied little from their Medieval origins.

My own regalia is from the University of California has is dark navy blue with gold piping, a velvet tam, and a bright gold tassel. I wear it whenever I can. I mean, think about it: how often do you get to wear a gold tassel when you are not a stripper?