Fashion

Roman Fashion in the Republic
By: Katie Darden

 Rome was a dominating republic in almost all aspects of their lives, including warfare, trade, and architecture. Fashion was no different. In the Roman Republic, clothing was not only used to cover your body, but to reveal your social status. For example, you could identify if someone was wealthy or poor, senator or general, citizen or slave, etc. just by what they were wearing. Foreigners were not allowed to wear a toga and neither were slaves. The working class were only allowed to wear togas on feast days. As you can see, fashion was a major aspect in Roman life and taken very seriously. The right to be fashionable was an honor in the Roman Republic. For example, if you lost your freedom in the republic, you also lost your right to wear certain items. Citizen, matron, curule, magistrate, emperor, general, workman, slave = Women’s Clothing =

Women in the Roman Republic were prevented from doing various activities and attending certain events. Fashion for Roman women was a way of fulfilling that void of activities. They took a lot of pride and delight in their clothing. Women clothing also did not have the distinctive status symbol as Roman men. For example, you could not look at a women and tell by what she was wearing, if she was in the upper class or lower class. One difference that tore women apart was the stola. Only married women wore the stola. The main item of women clothing was the tunic, just like the men’s clothing, although the women’s tunic extended to the feet. The peplos was also an essential item of a Roman Women. It was made from two pieces of cloth sewn together at the sides. The Chiton was like a Greek tunic. A lot of Roman fashion was higly influenced by Greek fashion. Since women’s fashion was very simple, they used elaborate hairstyles to accessorize their attire. Some hairstyles were inspired by Ancient Roman Godesses.

This statue is an example of how women dressed and how the Chiton was worn.

Men’s Clothing
Men in the Roman Republic took a great deal of pride in how they dressed. Each man wore a tunic and a toga. A tunic was the main item of their clothing. It was made of two pieces of undyed wool sewn together at the shoulders and sides. It flowed down to the knees of the man. Upper-class men’s tunics had stripes down the side of them. The Senatorial tunic had very wide stripes to show that they were very important in Roman society and were of a higher standard then the lower class men. The Equestrian tunic had narrow stripes down the sides of them to show that they were also important, but not as important as the Roman senators. The lower-class men and working class men had plain tunics with no stripes down them. This showed that since they were in the lower class, they were lower in fashion to. The tunic length also indicated what level you were on in the social ladder. A hitched up tunics indicate a lower class worker. The national garment of Rome was the toga. Only male citizens were allowed to wear it and it was very expensive. There were many different types of togas and each one symbolized age or status. The toga was a symbol of high honor. As you can observe, the Roman Republic was a very materialistic society.

Jewelry
Jewelry was also a very important aspect in the fashion of the Roman republic. Men usually only wore one piece of jewelry, more was considered showing off. Men wore personalized rings that were used to make an impression in sealing. This had to be done in order to authorize documents. These rings were originally made of iron, but as the years went on, they became made of gold. Other rings also had more practical uses. Some rings were used as keys to open a man’s strongbox. Young boys who had not gone into manhood yet, wore a necklace and round pouch with amulets made of gold called a bulla. For good luck, many boys wore rings made of gold. Jewelry was a great way to accessorize an outfit and was worn on a daily basis.

Sources:


Anawalt, Patricia Rieff. __The Worldwide History of Dress__. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2007. McManus, Barbara F.. "Roman Clothing ." August 2003. The College of New Rochelle. 3 Dec 2008 . McManus, Barbara F. . "Roman Clothing:Women." August 2003. 4 Dec 2008 http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/clothing2.html. "Clothing and fashion in Roman Britain." __Home > Explore > Highlights > Article index__. The British Museum. 3 Dec 2008 .