Academic dress

British Colour Council colours

The British Colour Council (BCC) was an industry standards organisation, active from the 1930s to the 1950s, which produced indexes of named colours for use by government, industry, academia and horticulture.

Its first major work was its 1934 'Dictionary of Colour Standards' in two volumes for the textile dye industry. It defined 220 colours presented on pure silk ribbon and gave number codes and evocative names, which often referred to flora or fauna, to each colour. The Dictionary was followed by a second edition in 1951, which included 20 additional colours.

The BCC continued to publish colour codes through the 1960s, and while largely supplanted by the British Standards organisation and by commercial colour standards such as Pantone, the BCC codes are still referred to by industries in the United Kingdom and used as standards for some British Commonwealth flags, academic robes and horticulture.

An extract from Volume I of the BCC 'Dictionary of Colour Standards' 1934

University of Sydney academic dress colours

The colours used in University of Sydney academic dress are set out below.

They are as defined in the 'British Colour Council Dictionary of Colour Standards', 1951 edition. The numbers which follow the colours are those by which the Dictionary identifies the colours approved for the purpose of University of Sydney academic dress.

A - K

Colour	BCC code	Colours from the 1951 BCC Dictionary of Colour Standards	Origin of colour
Amber	BCC 5
Brick red	BCC 125
Bronze green	BCC 79
Buttercup	BCC 53
Cardinal	BCC 186
Cherry	BCC 185
Chilli	BCC 98
Copper	BCC 73
Cream	BCC 3
Crushed strawberry	BCC 158
Dark blue	BCC 148
Dark maroon	BCC 39
Dove grey	BCC 231
Emerald	BCC 213
Grass green	BCC 103
Heliotrope	BCC 178
Honeysuckle	BCC 62
Imperial purple	BCC 109
Ivory	BCC 2
Jade	BCC 122
Jet black	BCC 220
Kingfisher	BCC 104

L - Z

Colour	BCC code	Colours from the 1951 BCC Dictionary of Colour Standards	Origin of colour
Light green	BCC 99
Light maroon	BCC 36
Lilac	BCC 176
Mace	BCC 73
Maroon	BCC 39
Medici crimson	BCC 240
Moss green	BCC 174
Murrey	BCC 135
Neyron rose	BCC 35
Old gold	BCC 115
Old rose	BCC 157
Pea green	BCC 172
Peony red	BCC 37
Pearl white	BCC 151
Peat brown	BCC 70
Post office red	BCC 209
Powder blue	BCC 193
Purple	BCC 109
Red brick	see Brick red
Royal blue	BCC 197
Salvia blue	BCC 146
Satinwood	BCC 65
Silver grey	BCC 153
Sky blue	BCC 162
Spectrum violet	BCC 214
Straw	BCC 51
String	BCC 127
Tangerine	BCC 55
Turquoise blue	BCC 118
Ultramarine	BCC 148
Union jack red	BCC 210