2. THE ANCIENT ROMAN COSTUME HISTORY
IN EUROPE B.C. 53 TO A.D. 450
The necessary garments of mankind were never many: one adjusted to the body,
reaching to the knee or mid – leg for the man and to the ankle for the women,
another sample enough to cover the whole person inclement weather.
The first of these two garments adopted by the Romans from the Greeks who
called it kitten. The Latin name for it was tunica or tunic which has within some
few past years reappeared in the nomenclature of English costume, both civil
and military.
The people use to wear wool or linen, according to the season and originally
had sleeves reaching scarcely to the elbow but at the time of Emperors, to the
wrist.
http://world4.eu/roman-costume-history/
3. Roman clothing material:
• The type of materials used to produce clothes worn by the Romans started with wool and
leather which came from the farms of Italy.
• As their contact with other cultures and different climates increased so did the types of
materials that they used. Luxury materials were therefore imported.
• Fine linens from Egypt, cotton from India and silk from China. Silk was quite rare and
extremely expensive.
• Clothes made of silk were a luxury which could only be afforded by the wealthiest Romans
and this, the most delicate of all materials, was only worn by women.
The clothing materials used by the Romans included the following:
1. Wool
2. Felt
3. Cotton
4. Leather
5. Linen
6. Flax
7. Gauze
8. Damask
9. Cloth of gold
10. Silk
4. Colors used to dye fabric in Roman
• Colors were produced from natural sources such as plants and insects.
• The main Colors of Roman Clothing include the following colors :
White Purple
Blue Red
Scarlet Yellow
Green Brown
Black
• The brightest or darkest colors were more expensive to produce and were limited to higher
status clothing.
• to produce varying colors the material was heated with the dye and occasionally additional
elements. Other items were added to the dyes to produce a variety of different colors.
These included wine, salts, shell, sheep urine, lentils, vinegar, wild cucumbers, walnuts,
insects, plants, bark, roots, berries and flowers.
6. Women's wear
On occasions, married citizen women wore a
woolen mantle, known as a palla, over a stola,
a simple, long-sleeved, voluminous garment
that hung to midstep.
palla stola(sleeveless)
8. Clothing in ancient Rome generally comprised a short-sleeved or
sleeveless, knee-length tunic for men and boys. On formal occasions,
adult male citizens could wear a woolen toga, draped over their
tunic.
Men's wear
Toga
•National dress for Rome
•Semi circular woollen cloth, usually white
•Draped in a way that forms a palla on either of the
shoulders(usually left)
Tunic
•Most working men wore knee-length, short-sleeved tunics, secured
at the waist with a belt.
•Worn both as an undergarment and as an actual tunic
•Resembles the Chiton style drapery in Greece.
Carbatina
•Most common style of shoe worn by the romans.
•a usually thin-soled sandal.
10. Roman costume who wore the different roman costumes
according to the status:
11. • The first man on the left is a Roman citizen (because he wears a toga) but
is not an equestrian or senator (because he has no stripes on his tunic).
• Married woman wears a stola.
• Colored shoes and the broad stripes on his tunic identify the next man as a
senator.
• Toga indicates that he had at least one curule office.
• The laurel wreath on the head of the next man and his special robes
indicate that he is an emperor,the uniform and cloak of the following man
identify him as a general.
• The social status of the two men on the right indicate that they are lower-
class working men, but the two lowest social classes in Rome (freedpeople
and slaves) did not have distinctive clothing that clearly indicated their
status. These men could both be freed people (or citizens at work, for that
matter);
• The man in the brown tunic is carrying tools and the other man is lighting
his way, so we can deduce that the man in the white tunic may be a
slave of the other man.
12. Movies based on Roman culture:
Ben-Hur(1959)
Spartacus(1960)
Asterix and Cleopatra (1968)
Fellini Satyricon (1969)
Caligula (1979)
Titus (1999)
Gladiator(2000)- The film won the Oscars for Best Picture , costumes , sound, and
Vistual Effect. JANTY YATES (COSTUME DESIGNER)
Centurion(2010) 1`
15. Renaissance Hairstyles
• High: Women started to expose their hair taller
where as men had choice of choosing to put on
beard or moustaches. Ladies had headbands or
jewels or gem stones.
• Middle: The length was towards knee or below
and with two long braids . They also covered it
with artificial flowers. The forehead was a
important feature of face.
• Low: Men whore their hair short, while women
combed their long hair upwards. Red wigs were
especially popular during this era. Strange
recipes for bleaching their hair were urine and
sand.
Middle
High
Low
16. Roman cosmetics
• Cosmetics, first used in Ancient Rome for ritual purposes, were part
of daily life for women, especially prostitutes and the wealthy.
• Some fashionable cosmetics, such as those imported
from China, Germany and Gaul, were so expensive that the Lex
Oppia tried to limit their use in 189 BCE.
• These “designer brands” spawned cheap knock-offs that were sold to
poorer women. Working-class women could afford the cheaper
varieties, but may not have had the time (or slaves) to apply the
makeup as the use of makeup was a time-consuming affair because
cosmetics needed to be reapplied several times a day due to weather
conditions and poor composition.
• Scent was also an important factor of beauty. Women who smelled
good were presumed to be healthy. Due to the stench of many of the
ingredients used in cosmetics at the time, women often drenched
themselves in copious amounts of perfume.
All cosmetic ingredients were also used as medicines to treat various
ailments. Lead, although known to be poisonous, was still widely
used.Cosmetis were used for skincare, eye
makeup,lips,nail,teeth,perfumes.
17. Footwear:
• Footwear also defined a person's
position in society.
• Women wore closed shoes that were
either white, green or yellow.
• Men wore sandals. Patricians wore
red sandals with an ornament at the
back.
• Senators (old man or legends) wore
brown footwear with black straps
which wound round the leg to mid-
calf, where the straps were tied.
• Consuls wore white shoes.
• soldiers wore heavy boots.
18. ROMAN SOLDIERS
It's interesting to note that most Roman armor probably did not shine. They used a lot of
chain mail (a sort of cloth made of circular links), which doesn't shine. They also made scale
armor (metal plates about 3 inches long and about an inch wide, sewn together on a
linen/leather backing.) Scale armor shines a little, but not much. And, they made leather
armor, with the metal on the inside, or at least under the leather, probably again on a
backing of linen, to make three layers. So, although the ancient Romans loved the ornate
and glittery, their armor most probably did not shine!
19. Roman Art:
Roman art refers to the visual arts made in Ancient Rome and in the
territories of the Roman Empire. Roman art includes architecture, painting,
sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving,
ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered in modern terms to be
minor forms of Roman art.
Fresco from the
Villa of the
Mysteries. Pompeii,
80 BC
Iphigenia in Aulis Wall
painting from north
wall of the House of
the Tragic Poet,
Pompeii
