2024-2025

ROMAN COSTUMES
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Early Roman history was closely intertwined with that of Etruria.
During the early years of Roman history, kings ruled Rome.
Several of the early kings were Etruscan, but in 509B.C. revolution ended the reign of Etruscan kings in Rome
Etruscans and Romans battled each other until, one by one; the cities of Etruria became a part of the
growing Roman confederation.

753 BC – Founding of the city of Rome (small

settlement on the banks of river Tiber)
753 BC – 509 BC: Kings rule Rome (Etruscan)
509 BC – 27 BC: Roman Republic
396 BC – 88BC: Romans subdue and conquer
Etruscan cities
44BC: Assassination of Julius Caesar
31BC – AD 395: Roman Empire
AD 79: Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covers Pompeii
and Herculaneum
AD 395: Division of Rome in Eastern and Western
Empires
AD 476 – Last Western emperor of Rome deposed
Plate 1: The city of Rome began as a small
settlement on the banks of the Tiber River and
Figure 1: Chronology of Roman History grew into an enormous metropolis, as seen in
this model. (© Vanni Archive/Art Resource, NY)
SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS AND DRESS

"Dress for a Roman often, if not primarily, signified rank status, office, or authority“
Roman literary sources indicate that a married Roman woman wore a distinctive item of costume: the
stolas.
If she were widowed, she wore a dark, square cloak for at least a year after her husband's death.
The primary distinction made in Roman society for men was between the citizen and the non-citizen
This status was clearly marked by dress.
The male citizen was entitled to wear the toga. Slaves, foreigners and chaste adult women were
prohibited from wearing this costume.
The emperor and the imperial court were at the very top of Roman society.
Upper-class men generally belonged to one of the civil and military orders.
The most important of these were the senators.
Second in importance were the knights.
Beginning in Republican times, senators were distinguished by their dress.
• Their tunics (and those of the emperor) had broad purple bands that extended vertically from hem
to hem across the shoulders.
• These-bands were called clavi (clah'vee) (plural) or clavus (clah'vus) (singular)
• They wore shoes with laces that wrapped around the leg halfway to the knee.
The tunics of knights had
• Slightly narrower purple bands.
• And they wore a gold ring that signified their rank.

WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 1 of 9
2024-2025

After the end of the 1st century A.D., however, it became customary for all male members of the nobility
to wear clavi on the tunic.
There were a number of special types of togas worn for certain occasion or to designate particular roles
(Table 1)

Table 1: The appearance and significance of various types of togas

Type of Toga Appearance Significance

Toga Pura Or plain white, worn after the age of 16 by the ordinary male
Toga Virilis undecorated wool Roman citizen

this was the toga

worn by candidates for office; the word
Toga Candida pura lightened to an
candidate derives from this term
exceptional white

with a purple worn by the young sons (until age 16) and
Toga Praetexta border about 2–3 daughters (until age 12) of the nobility and by
inches wide certain adult magistrates and high priests

black or dark-
Toga Pulla supposedly worn for mourning
colored toga

assigned on special occasions to victorious

purple with gold
Toga Picta generals or others who distinguished themselves
embroidery
in some way

apparently
assigned to augurs (religious officials who
Toga Trabea multicolored,
prophesied the future) or important officials
striped toga

SOURCES OF EVIDENCE ABOUT ROMAN COSTUME

• Information about Roman dress comes from Roman art, Roman literature, and archeological
excavations.
• Remarkable artifacts were preserved when the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried
by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, a nearby volcano, in 79 CE.
• Frescoes (paintings on plaster) and Mosaics (pictures created from small pieces of colored stone)
have been found to provide some indication of the colours (though faded) used in Roman
costume
• Literary works, especially plays and satires, provide the names of garments; insight into
current attitudes toward particular styles; and how they were bought, worn, or used to create an
impact on friends

WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 2 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

FABRIC AND CLOTH PRODUCTION

• Throughout Roman history, wool was the major fiber used.
• Flax being the second important fiber.
• Cotton was first mentioned in Roman writings around 190 B.C., though it was probably imported
earlier. It was often mixed with linen. Wool and cotton blends were also made.
• By-the end of the 1st century B.C, silk was available to the wealthy and was imported from China.
• Fabrics were dyed to a wide range of colors.
• Among the most important dyestuffs were those used to produce the shade of purple required for
the clavi of men's tunics and the borders of certain togas.

ROMAN COSTUMES FOR MEN

Loincloth
• We do not know a great deal about Roman underclothes, But there is evidence that both men and women
wore a simple, wrapped loincloth (subligar or subligaculum, meaning “little binding underneath”).
• Male laborers wore the subligar when working, but upper-class men may have worn it only
when exercising.
• Women also sometimes wore a band of cloth or leather to support the breasts (strophium or mamillare).
Tunic
• The basic item of male dress was the tunic, made of two pieces of undyed wool sewn together at
the sides and shoulders and belted in such a way that the garment just covered the knees.
Openings for the arms were left at the top of the garment, creating an effect of short sleeves when
the tunic was belted

Basic tunic Equestrian tunic Senatorial tunic

(tunica) (tunica angusticlavia) (tunica laticlavia)

Figure 2: Types of Tunic and Toga

Toga
• Roman sources indicate that initially both women and men wore togas, men wearing theirs
over a loincloth.
• By the 2nd century B.C., the toga was a garment worn over a tunic by adult male.
• In describing clothing, the Romans made a distinction between garments that were "put on"
(indutus) and garments that were "wrapped around" (am ictus).
Indutus was worn underneath or closest to the skin (the tunic, for example), and
am ictus might be considered outerwear (for example, the toga or the himation).

Figure 3: How to wear toga

CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 3 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

Steps in draping a TOGA

Figure 4: (a) Steps for draping the early form of the

toga. Step 1: The toga is placed over the shoulder with
point 1 below the knee. Step 2: Point 3 is drawn across
the back, under the right arm and up to the left
shoulder. Step 3: Point 3 is thrown across the left
shoulder and arm to hang down in back of the left
shoulder. Point 1 is obscured by draping the bulk of the
toga across the front of the body. (Courtesy of Fairchild
Publications, Inc.)
The imperial toga (b) was draped in essentially the same
way, except that the fold created an extra drapery at the
front of the body. (Courtesy of Fairchild Publications, Inc..) The
fold, the sinus, and the umbo (pockets formed by pulling
part of the side fold to the front)

By the Imperial period, the shape of the toga had evolved to that shown in and its draping had become
more complicated. Two new features were added, the fold, the sinus, and the umbo (pockets formed by
pulling part of the side fold to the front)
The sinus was formed from the over-fold of the Imperial toga.
The over-fold was rolled into loose folds as it crossed the back of the body, then as it emerged from under the
right arm the folds were loosened, causing the over-fold to fall almost to the knee, rather like a draped apron.
The umbo (literally meaning "the knob") was created by pulling a clump of fabric up from the first and
invisible part of the toga that had been placed vertically from floor to shoulder, the umbo may have
helped to hold the toga drapery in place but seems ultimately to have a decorative element.
CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 4 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

Capes and Cloaks

Cloaks and capes served as outdoor garments for cold weather and were made with or without hoods. The
most important cloaks cited by various sources were:
• Paenula (pie-new' -La):A heavy wool cloak, semicircular in shape
closed at the front, with a hood.
• Lacerna(la-cer' na): Rectangular, with rounded corners and a hood.
• Laena (lie-na): A circle of cloth folded to a semicircle, which was thrown
over the shoulders and pinned at the front.
• birrus (beer'rus) or burrus (bur' -rus): Resembling a modern, hooded
poncho, cut full and with an opening through which the head was
slipped.
• p'aludamentum (pa-lu-da-men' -tum): A large white or purple cloak
similar to the Greek chlamys, worn by emperors or generals

Figure 5: Statesman 5th Century A.D, This high ranking state functionary wears a Paludamentum
(cloak); The Romanized version of the Greek Chlamys. Here the Paludamentum is long, as was typical
for an official, and is decorated with a rectangular panel known as a TABLION. The Paludamentum
replaced the toga as a Roman Symbol of power and authority in the 5 th Century AD.

ROMAN COSTUMES FOR WOMEN

The individual elements of costume for adult Roman women were similar to those for Greek women and
consisted of undergarments, several layers of tunics, and outer mantles.

Figure 6: Wall painting that depicts Roman women at home. They Figure 7: Women participating in an athletic competition are
are wearing tunics in a variety of different colors with pallas draped wearing what is probably the kind of undergarments worn by
over them. (Detail: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY) women of Rome. (Photograph by Vincent R. Tortora)

Undergarments
Undergarments for women consisted of loincloth (called subligaria-the feminine form of subligar) and a
band of fabric, the strophium or mamillare that supported the breasts.
Both these undergarments can be seen on the woman athletes (Figure 7)
CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 5 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

Tunic
The tunic was the basic garment for women in Rome and had much the same appearance as Greek chiton.
Women's tunics reached to the ankle or to the floor.
Like men the women wore an under tunic and an outer tunic. The under tunic was not seen in public. It
served as a nightdress and was worn alone in the privacy of the home.

Palla
A draped shawl (counterpart of the Greek himation), the palla was placed over the outer tunic. The palla
is depicted as draped in any of these ways:
Similarly to the toga, casually pulled across the shoulder or pulled over the head like a veil.

Figure 8: The Palla is a simple rectangular drape worn for modesty and protection from the elements. It could be worn about the shoulders
as shown or drawn over the head. Use a full width of cloth, and hem or just fringe the ends to prevent fraying.

Cloaks
For outdoor wear, women wrapped themselves in cloaks, including the paenula, which was worn when
traveling in bad weather.

GARMENTS DESIGNATING SOCIALSTATUS FOR WOMEN

Literary sources make it clear that specific garments were associated with women at various stages of
their adult lives. The following are the major garments designating social status for women
Stola
A garment reserved for free, married women.
At the time of her marriage, the Roman woman donned
the stola, a long, sleeveless tunic, frequently if not
always suspended at the shoulders from short straps,
which was worn on top of another tunic. It is probable
that the Stola was typically made of undyed wool. The
Stola was a symbol of marriage
Veil
Although the palla was not worn exclusively as a veil
by Roman matrons, they were expected to cover their
heads with their pallas when they left their homes.
Vitta
A woolen band used to bind her hair was another
Figure 9: Stola and Palla
element of the prescribed dress for Roman matrons.

CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES

UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 6 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

COSTUME COMPONENTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN

HAIR AND HEADDRESS

Hair
(Women)
 In the Republican period women had softly waved hair. By the end of the 1st century A.D.,
complex almost architectural forms were built up of curls, braids, and artificial hair
 Blond hair was fashionable and this had to be achieved through bleaching or wearing wigs made
from the hair of northern European blonde captives.
 During the later empire, hairstyles were simplified with braids or locks doubled up in back and
pinned to the top of the head.
(Men)
 Hair was cut short, and arranged by a
barber.
 Sometimes straight hair was favored;
other times, curls.
 Men who wished to appear more
youthful dyed their hair.
 Beards predominated in the
Republican years and clean-shaven
faces during the empire until the reign
of Hadrian (c. A.D.120), an emperor
who was bearded.
Hats
(Women)
Instead of wearing hats, women tended to pull the
Palla or a scarf over the head. Fillets and
coronets were worn.
(Men)
Men's hat styles included those similar to the Greek
Petasos; hoods; and rounded or pointed caps.

FOOT WEAR
Men and women wore sandals (in
Latin, solae [so’lay] or sandalis), boots, and a
slipperlike shoe reaching to the ankle (soccus).

Figure 10: Examples of Hairstyles and Headdress Worn by

Men and Women during the Roman Empire Drawn by Thomas Hope
with permission by Dover Publications, Inc.

Figure 11: Roman Sandals

CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES
UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 7 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

JEWELLERY
Women wore expensive and beautifully crafted rings, bracelets, necklaces, armlets, earrings, and
diadems, as well as less costly versions. Of the types of jewellery, men wore only rings.
ACCESSORIES
 Women carried fans and handbags.
 Sun shades were needed for the games held in the arenas and for this purpose either wide hats or
parasols that did not fold were used.
 A white linen handkerchief and its variants had differing names and uses:
sudarium: To wipe off perspiration, to veil the face, or to hold in front of the mouth to protect
against disease.
mappa: A table napkin. (Guests brought their own nap-kins when invited for dinner.)
orarium: Slightly larger version of the sudarium It became a symbol of rank, and in the late
empire was worn by upper-class women neatly pleated across the left shoulder or forearm.

COSMETICS AND GROOMING

 According to the satirists, cosmetics were used lavishly by both men and women. Practices reported for
women: whitening the skin with lead, tinting the lips red, darkening eyebrows.
 Appearance-conscious men were said to use makeup cream on the cheeks and to paste small circles of cloth
over skin flaws. Both sexes used perfume.
 Large public baths were frequented not only for cleanliness and exercise, but also as a place to socialize
and do business.
 In some periods, baths were segregated by sex; in others, men and women bathed together.

Figure 12: Visual Summary of Major Roman Garments

Roman dress continues the cross-cultural theme. Although the terminology for the basic garment changed
from the Greek term chiton to the Roman tunica, the form of this garment did not change much. To this
garment the Romans added the toga, probably derived from their Etruscan neighbours.
The availability of silk in both Greece and Rome was due to the trade with China, where the fibers
originated. Silk and other products traveled across a land route now called the Silk Road. However, the

CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES

UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 8 of 9
2019-2020 Reena Bhatia Ph.D

Romans and the Chinese traded through middlemen and did not have direct contact; therefore, there is no
evidence of stylistic influences from one culture to another.
Political conflict played a role in Roman dress as well. The conquest of enormous territories brought both
the raw materials for textiles and the finished products to Rome and the Romans.
The major theme that plays out in Roman dress, however, is that of the delineation of social roles.
Throughout Roman costume we find evidence of the use of costume to set the individual or the occasion
apart. In this context, several come to mind: the special garment for dining, the synthesis; the special
costume of senators and of knights; the stola of the Roman matron; and the variety of togas, each with
special significance. From childhood to widowhood, Roman dress was full of well-defined symbols.

Modern Influences
Designer Alberta Ferretti, based in Milan, Italy, has been known to base her
designs on Roman dress. This dress has been inspired by Roman tunics,
especially when paired with Roman-like sandals. Ferretti adds a modern touch
with the colourful braid belt and embroidery.
(Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

CITATION:
Tortora, P.G., & Marcketti, S.B. (2015). Etruria and Rome c. 800 BCE – 400 CE.
In Survey of Historic Costume (pp. 74–99). New York: Fairchild Books.
Retrieved March 30 2020, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501304194.ch-004

REFERENCES
Bonfante L. (1994). Introduction. In J. L. Sebesta & L. Bonfante (Eds.), The world of Roman costume
(pp. 3–10). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Bonfante L. (2003). Etruscan dress. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Carcopino J. (1940). Daily life in ancient Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Casson L. (1975). Everyday life in ancient Rome. New York, NY: Heritage.
Croom A. T. (2002). Roman clothing and fashion. Charleston, SC: Tempus.
Friedlander L. (1936). Roman life and manners under the early empire (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Dutton.
Goldman N. (1994). Reconstructing Roman clothing. In J. L. Sebesta & L. Bonfante (Eds.), The world of
Roman costume (pp. 213–237). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Herlihy D. (1990). Opera muliebria: Women and work in medieval Europe. Philadelphia, PA: Temple
University Press.
Jones A. H. M. (1960). “The cloth industry under the Roman Empire”. Economic History Review, 13(2), 183.
Lawler A. (2010). “The pearl trade”. Archeology, 65(2), 46–51.
McDaniel W. B. (1925). “Roman dinner garments”. Classical Philology, 20, 268.
Rudd N. (Trans.). (1973). The satires of Horace and Persius. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books.
Sebesta J. L. (1994a). Symbolism in the costume of the Roman woman. In J. L. Sebesta & L. Bonfante
(Eds.), The world of Roman costume (pp. 46–53). Madison, Wi: University of Wisconsin Press.
Sebesta J. L. (1994b). Tunica ralla, tunica spissa. In J. L. Sebesta & L. Bonfante (Eds.), The world of
Roman costume (pp. 65–76). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Stone S. (1994). The toga: From national to ceremonial costume. In J. L. Sebesta & L. Bonfante (Eds.),
The world of Roman costume (pp. 13–45). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Wilson L. M. (1924). The Roman toga. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

CTX 1612/ FAD 1608 WORLD COSTUMES

UNIT II The Costumes of the Ancient World (3500B.C.-AD 300) – Roman Page 9 of 9