Historic textile costumes- Rome

1. Textiles and Costumes of
Ancient Rome
Presented by: Ms. Saheba Shaikh

2. Textiles
• The most common fabric found in ancient Roman
clothing were wool, linen, and silk.
• Leather was only used for shoes and sandals, with
the exception of military uniforms.
• Wool was produced in Italy, but linen and silk often
came from the eastern parts of the empire. Greece
provided an excellent climate for the flax plant and
some of the best silk came from the island of Kos.
• It is also likely that by the 1st century CE, some
linen and silk were imported from Syria and China,
respectively.

3. • Wool is made from the coats of animals and in ancient
Rome, it primarily came from the fleece of sheep that
were bred for their wool.
• Wool production was very common in Italy and other
parts of Europe because the fiber was so versatile.
• It was durable, easy to clean, and because it came from
animals, it was also temperature-regulating which was
ideal for the cool European winters.
• Tunics for both men and women, togas, the palla, and
blankets were mostly made out of wool.
• Cotton, a natural plant-based fiber, has primarily come
from India since ancient times. The Roman Empire
highly coveted this luxury item that only the wealthiest
citizens could afford.

4. • Like wool and linen, it could be dyed in different colors,
and Romans typically blended linen and cotton threads to
create more vivid colors in their fabrics. Cotton was an
ideal fabric for the warmer summer months.
• Silk, produced in China, was another luxury good that
was purchased by the ancient Romans. The lighter and
more luxurious fabric was very expensive and made the
wealthier citizens stand out even more.
• At first, the only way to purchase silk was to travel to
China. Once the silk road began, everything changed. It
contained many different routes and stretched thousands
of miles from China to Rome.
• Rome also had access to Coan silk, raw silk that was
produced on the Greek Island of Kos and was easier to
obtain.

5.  Most fabric was not dyed as this was an expensive
process. The most luxurious color of dye was purple,
which came from crushed sea snails and was known
as Tyrian purple.
 By the Imperial era, purple was closely associated
with the emperor. Roman sumptuary laws stated that
only the emperor could wear a toga of solid purple.
 Clothes were cut and sewn from large pieces of
woven cloth that had been produced using a loom.
 In ancient Rome, women were traditionally weavers
of cloth. It was considered part of the role of Roman
women to participate in making clothes for their
household.

6. • The Roman women were very skilful in their art of
weaving, spinning and embroidery. Many of the
designs on the Roman costumes resemble that a
Greek designs.

7. Mostly women did the weaving in ancient Rome. The
two-beamed loom was one of the two preferred looms.

8. Toga
• The Toga was the national garment of Rome, only
male citizens were able to wear the Toga.
• The Toga was made of a large woolen cloth cut with
both straight and rounded edges; it was not seam or
pinned but rather draped carefully over the body on
top of the tunic.
• The large over fold in the front of the body was
called a ‘Sinus’, and part of the material under this
was pulled up and draped over the sinus to form the
‘Umbo’.
• The back of the toga was pulled over the head for
religious ceremonies.

9.  The toga was worn often during state occasions.
Consuls and senators wore a toga edged with purple.
Some roman senators wore white toga’s that were 10
m long.
 Some emperors togas were made entirely from either
purple or black cloth. Black togas, though, were
usually only worn in times of mourning.
 The color of the toga was significant, making
differences in age and status.
 Initially toga was worn by only women and then it
was also used by men and so the “Palla” was
introduced for women.

11. Toga Praetexta
 white with a broad purple stripe
on the border, worn,
historically, by the kings of
Rome, by the the curule
magistrates as well as by
freeborn boys and some
freeborn girls as a sign of
protection against evil, worn
also by some priesthoods.
 At the end of adolescence, a
free male citizen put on the
white toga virilis or toga pura.

12. Toga Pura
o Plain white toga, called
toga pura or toga virilis.
o Any citizen of Rome
might wear the toga pura,
a toga made of natural,
undyed, whitish wool.
o Worn by men when they
first came of age (14 -16)
or lower members of the
senate.

13. Toga Pulla and Toga Candida
 Toga Pulla: A dark toga worn when
someone was in mourning.
• Toga Candida: If a citizen wanted to
run for election, he would bleach his
toga extremely bright to stand out from
the crowd (the word candida means
bright).
• he made his toga pura whiter than
normal by rubbing it with chalk. It was
then called toga candida,
• If he got elected as a magistrate, he’d
wear a toga praetexta again.

14. Toga Picta
• Toga picta: used by generals
in their victory and later by
consuls and emperors during
the Empire, it was dyed purple
and decorated with
embroideries in golden thread.
• Because purple dye was very
expensive, the Emperor would
wear a very special toga picta
that was all purple with gold
embroidery.

15. Toga

16. Tunic
• A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style,
reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between
the hips and the knees.
• The name derives from the Latin tunica, the basic garment
worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome.
• The tunic was worn by common people, herdsmen and slaves
was made from a coarse dark material. The tunic worn by
patricians was made from white wool or linen.
• Tunic angusticlavia: had a narrow purple stripe and was
worn by knights.
• Tunic laticlavia: had a broad stripe and was worn by
senators
• Soldiers, slaves and manual workers generally had tunics to a
little above the knee; those in more sedentary occupations to
about the ankle

18. Women’s Costumes in ancient Rome
o Roman women's costume consisted of three simple
garments, TUNICA (under dress), STOLA (overdress),
and PALLA (wrap).
o Romans' clothing for women also included a short-
sleeved or long-sleeved tunic. These tunics were
longer than those that the men wore; they were at
least knee-length but usually floor-length.

19. Stola and Palla
o The stola was a long, pleated dress, worn over an
undergarment called a tunic or tunica intima.
o The stola was generally sleeveless but versions of it
did have short or long sleeves. These sleeves could
belong to the stola itself or be a part of the tunic.
o The traditional sleeveless stola was fastened by
clasps at the shoulder called fibula. It was worn as a
symbol and represented a woman's marital status.
o The stola typically had two belts, and was typically
girdle with ribbons. The first was worn just below
the breasts creating a great amount of folds.
o The second and wider belt was worn around the
waist.

20. o The stola was frequently worn with a a long shawl-
like garment called a Palla.
o It was worn when women went outside and typically
went over one shoulder and draped across the body.
o It could also be pulled up over the head as a shawl.
o The Palla, a large square or rectangular piece of
cloth, folded lengthwise and held on each shoulder
with a fibula.
Fabula

22. Cingulum ( breast
girdle)
Succincta (waist
girdle)

24. Headdress
o The romens usually went about without using
head dress but even then there were two kinds
which were very common, these were known as
“Petasus” which were similar to a felt hat.
o The other type of head dress was worn during
festivals like bull fighting and horse race. This
was known as “Pilens”.

25. • Women, in Rome, just as in any other civilization to this
day, wore far more elaborate hairstyles than their men.
• Young women simply gathered their hair into a bun at
the back of the neck, or coiled it into a knot a the top of
the head with help of simple red and purple band;
Tutulus.
• Married women’s hairstyles were more complicated.
False hair, wigs, hair lotions and dyes were all known to
the Romans.

27. Footwear
o Sandals and shoes that were used by the Romans
was similar to that of the Greeks.
o The only difference is that the Roman shoes had
many nails according to the class and position of
the person.
o The most primitive and commonest model, worn
in Rome over a long period, was the ‘carbatina’
made, it seems, from a piece of ox-hide wrapped
round the foot and laced on over the instep.