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Clothing In Ancient Rome

Primary Materials

Fibers

The Romans used several different types of fibers. Wool was likely used most often, as it was obtained easily and was relatively easy to prepare. Other materials used were linen and hemp, even though a more complex preparation process is required to create cloth from these sources than from wool. There is some evidence that cotton was used, but less often. Silk, imported from several locations also was known.

Knitted sea silk glove, Taranto, Italy

Wild silk, that is, cocoons collected from the wild after the insect had eaten its way out, also was known. Wild silk, being of smaller lengths, had to be spun. A rare luxury cloth with a beautiful golden sheen, known as sea silk, was made from the byssus or fibres produced by Pinna noblis, a large Mediterranean seashell.

Naturally, these different fibers had to be prepared in different ways. According to Forbes, their wool contained around 50% fatty impurities, flax and hemp were about 25% impure, silk was between 19 and 25% impure, while cotton (the most pure of all the source fibers) contained only 6% impurities.

Wool, the most commonly used fiber, was most likely the first material to be spun. The sheep of Tarentum were renowned for the quality of their wool, although the Romans never ceased trying to optimise the quality of wool through cross-breeding. Wool was spun by the lanarii pectinarii. The production of linen and hemp was very similar to that of wool and was described by Pliny the Elder. After the harvest, the material would be immersed (most probably in water), it would be skinned and then aired. Once dry, the fibers would be pressed mechanically (with a mallet) and then smoothed. Following this, the materials were woven. Linen and hemp both are tough and durable materials.

Silk and cotton were imported, from China and India respectively. Silk was rare and expensive; a luxury afforded only to the richest and worn by women. Another type of silk, called “sea silk” was obtained from a mollusk and it was a luxury item as well.

The Romans had to turn their material with a manual spinner. Iron alum was used as the base fixing agent and it is known that the marine gastropod, Haustellum brandaris, was used as a red dye, due to its purple-red colorant (6,6′-dibromoindigotin); the color of the emperor. A more widely used tint was indigo, allowing blue or yellow shades, while madder, a dicotyledon angiosperm, produced a shade of red and was one of the cheapest dyes available. According to Pliny the Elder, a blackish colour was preferred to red. Yellow, obtained from saffron, was expensive and reserved for the clothing of married women or the Vestal Virgins. There were far fewer colours than we have today.

Archaeological discoveries of Greek vases depict the art of weaving, while writers in the field of antiques mention the art of weaving and fiber production. Some clothes have survived for several centuries and, as clothing is necessary, examples are numerous and diverse. These materials often provide some of the most detailed and precious information on the production means used, on the dyes used, on the nature of the soil where the materials were grown and, therefore, on trade routes and climate, among many other things.

Historical research in the area of ancient clothing is very active and it allows researchers to understand a great deal about the lifestyle of the Romans. The materials used were similar to those used by the ancient Greeks, except the tilling process had been ameliorated and the tilled linen and wool were of a far superior quality.

Hides, leather, and skins

The Romans had two main ways of tanning, one of which was mineral tanning, or “tawing” making hide into leather without the use of tannin, especially by soaking it in a solution of alum and salt. The Romans used tools that resembled those that would be used in the Middle Ages.

The tanned leather then was used to fashion heavy coats to keep Roman soldiers warm during travel, and in more frigid areas of Rome, it was used during cold seasons.

The leather was not given to the soldiers by the military commanders or overseers, but rather from the soldier’s wives and family[citation needed] before the soldiers left for a campaign.

Although leather sometimes was used for protection against poor weather, its primary use[citation needed] was as a secondary, or less expensive armor. Roman belts, wristbands, and leather arm guard (manica Latin) were made for troops, and more commonly, the gladiators. Many of the items were increased quantitatively because of practical use during the first century A.D. among Roman Legionaries.

Animal skins were worn over the helmet with bearskins being popular among legionaries and feline among with Preatorians. Ancient Roman taxidermists would retain the entire body and the head, with the front legs tied to fasten over the armor. The animal’s head would fit over the soldier’s helmet, and mostly was worn by the Roman aquilifer, who carried the symbol of Rome into battle.

The Romans rarely used goatskin for their leather[citation needed], preferring pig or sheepskin, although the ideal would be the preferred leather was that most readily available cattle skin. The thickest and most durable leather was used for shoe soles.

Types of Clothing

Roman marble torso from the 1st century CE, showing a woman’s clothing

Looms and their effect on clothing

In general, individual clothes were woven on vertical looms during antiquity. This contrasts with the medieval period when cloth was produced on foot-powered horizontal looms that later was made into clothes by tailors. Evidence for the transition between these two distinct systems, from Egypt, suggests that it had begun by 298 AD but it is likely that it was very gradual. The weaver sat at the horizontal loom producing rectangular lengths of cloth which never were wider than the weaver’s two arms could reach with the shuttle. Conversely, a weaver who stood at a vertical loom could weave cloth of a greater width than was possible sitting down, including the toga, which could, and did, have a complex shape.

Women’s clothing

After the second century BC, besides tunics, women wore very simple stola and usually followed the fashions of their Greek contemporaries. These stoles usually consisted of two rectangular segments of cloth joined at the side by safety pins, brooches and, finally, buttons in a manner that allowed the garment to drape freely over the front of the wearer. Over the stola the palla usually was worn, a sort of shawl made of an oblong piece of material that could be worn as a coat, with or without hood, or slung over the left shoulder, under the right arm and then draped over the left arm .

Girls’ clothing

Roman girls often wore nothing more than a tunic coming to below the knees or longer, belted at the waist and very simply decorated, most of the time white. When she went out she sometimes wore another tunic, longer than the first, sometimes to the ankles or even feet. She also wore an amulet called a bulla. The bulla was a leather or gold heart that was hung around her neck until the day she got married. The bulla was meant to be a lucky charm to protect her until the eve of her marriage. When she had a husband she no longer needed the bulla so it was burned.

Undergarments

The Romans later wore undergarments, a tunic, often a simple rectangle sewn into a tubular shape and pinned around the shoulders like a chiton. The strophium or breast cloth, was another form of undergarment. The Latin word for underpants, subligaria was revealed by the Vindolanda tablets.

Official clothing

The dress code of the day was complex and had to reflect one’s position accurately in the social order, one’s gender, and one’s language.

Togas

Main article: Toga

The variations of clothing worn in Rome were similar to the clothing worn in Greece at the same time, with the exception of the traditionally Roman toga. Until the second century B.C., the toga was worn by both genders and bore no distinction of rank – after that, a woman wearing a toga was marked out as a prostitute. The differentiation between rich and poor was made through the quality of the material; the upper-classes wore thin, naturally colored, wool togas while the lower-classes wore coarse material or thin felt. They also differentiated by colours used:

the toga praetextata, with a purple border, worn by male children and magistrates during official ceremonies

the toga picta or toga palmata, with a gold border, used by generals in their triumphs

trabea’ – toga entirely in purple, worn by statues of deities and emperors

saffron toga – worn by augurs and priestesses, white with a purple band, also worn by consuls on public festivals and equites during a transvectio

Red Borders – woren by men and women for festivals Blue Borders -

Religious ceremonies

laena – worn by the king and the flamens at sacrifices

crocota – saffron robe worn by women during ceremonies to Cybele

Footwear

A typical Roman sandal (calceus or calceolus for the women) consisted of a leather sole with a long lace that was wound up the wearer’s leg. The lacing of a typical Roman shoe always would leave a part of the foot exposed. Numerous variations of these two models have been found. The majority of Roman shoes took inspiration from their Greek counterparts. It is assumed that the quality of women’s shoes was judged on how thin and light the leather was. The Romans also invented socks for those soldiers required to fight on the northern frontiers, sometimes worn inside sandals.

during the early republic, many romans went bare foot most of the time especially indoors. outside they wore leather sandals. Later, footwear became more elaborate, and shoemakers became more skilled at making ordinate sandals, shoes and boots out of canvas and leather. Women’s sandals were either green, yellow or white and mens were either brown or black.

Roman Clothing of Late Antiquity (284 AD-)

Roman clothing fashions changed only gradually from the late Republic to the end of the Western empire 600 years later . In the later empire after Diocletian’s reforms, clothing worn by soldiers and non-military government bureaucrats became highly decorated, with woven or embroidered strips, clavi, and circular roundels, orbiculi, added to tunics and cloaks. These decorative elements usually consisted of geometrical patterns and stylised plant motifs, but could include human or animal figures. The use of silk also increased steadily and most courtiers in late antiquity wore elaborate silk robes. Heavy military-style belts were worn by bureaucrats as well as soldiers, revealing the general militarization of late Roman government. Trousers — considered barbarous garments worn by Germans and Persians — were only adopted partially near the end of the empire in a sign for conservatives of cultural decay. Early medieval kings and aristocrats dressed like late Roman generals, not like the older toga-clad senatorial tradition.

Related articles

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ancient Roman fashion

Clothing in the ancient world

External links

Fashion through the ages: ancient Rome

Ancient Roman accessories

References

^ Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, book 12 pp. 38

^ Pliny Nat.His XI, 75-77

^ Felicitas Maeder (2002): “The project Sea-silk Rediscovering an Ancient Textile Material.” Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, Number 35, Autumn 2002, p. 10.

^ Maeder, Felicitas, Hnggi, Ambros and Wunderlin, Dominik, Eds. 2004. Bisso marino : Fili dro dal fondo del mare Muschelseide : Goldene Fden vom Meeresgrund. Naturhistoriches Museum and Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland. (In Italian and German), pp. 68-71.

^ Hill, John E. 2003. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. A draft annotated translation from the Hou Hanshu – see Section 12 and note 15 plus Appendix B.

^ Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West. A draft annotated translation of the 3rd century Weile – see Section 12 of the text and Appendix D.

^ Forbes, R. J. Studies in Ancient Technology vol. IV. Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1964.

^ Handmade leather roman armors, roman belts, roman leather wrist bands

^ Roman Villa or Military Building ?

^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilifer

^ D.L.Carroll Dating the foot-powered loom: the Coptic evidence American Journal of Archaeology 1985 vol. 89; 168-73

^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, Nigel Rodgers, Lorenz Books, ISBN-13: 978-0-7548-1911-0 (page 490)

^ Sumner & D’Amato, G. & R. (2002). Roman Military clothing (2) AD 200 to 400. ISBN 18417655970, 79

^ Rodgers, p.491

^ The Inheritance of Rome, Chris Wickham, Penguin Books Ltd. 2009, ISBN 978-0-670-02098-0 (page 106)

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Clothing

Materials

Cotton  Fur  Leather  Linen  Nylon  Polyester  Rayon  Silk  Spandex  Wool

Tops

Blouse  Crop top  Dress shirt  Halterneck  Henley shirt  Hoodie  Jersey  Guernsey (clothing)  Polo shirt  Shirt  Sleeveless shirt  Sweater  T-shirt  Tube top  Turtleneck

Trousers or pants

Bell-bottoms  Bermuda shorts  Bondage pants  Boxer shorts  Capri pants  Cargo pants  Culottes  Cycling shorts  Dress pants  Jeans  Jodhpurs  Overall  Parachute pants  Phat pants   Shorts  Sweatpants  Windpants

Skirts

A-line skirt  Ballerina skirt  Fustanella  Hobble skirt  Jean skirt  Job skirt  Leather skirt  Kilt  Men’s skirts  Microskirt  Miniskirt  Pencil skirt  Poodle skirt  Prairie skirt  Rah-rah skirt  Sarong  Skort  Slip  Train  Wrap

Dresses

Ball gown  Cocktail dress  Evening gown  Gown  Jumper dress  Little black dress  Petticoat  Sari  Sundress  Tea gown  Wedding dress

Suits and uniforms

Academic dress  Afrocentric suit  Black tie  Buddhist monastic robe  Clerical clothing  Court dress  Gymslip  Jumpsuit  Lab coat  Mao suit  Morning dress  Pantsuit  Red Sea rig  Scrubs  Stroller  Tangzhuang  Tuxedo  White tie

Outerwear

Abaya  Academic gown  Anorak  Apron  Blazer  Cloak  Coat  Duffle coat  Frock coat  Jacket  Greatcoat  Hoodie  Opera coat  Overcoat  Pea coat  Poncho  Raincoat  Redingote  Robe  Shawl  Shrug  Ski suit  Sleeved blanket  Top coat  Trench coat  Vest  Waistcoat  Windbreaker

Underwear

Boxer briefs  Boxer shorts  Brassiere  Briefs  Compression shorts  Corselet  Corset  Knickers  Lingerie  Long underwear  Men’s undergarments  Panties  Teddy  Trunks  Undershirt

Accessories

Belly chain  Belt  Bow tie  Chaps  Coin purse  Earring  Gaiters  Gloves  Handbag  Leg warmer  Leggings  Necklace  Necktie  Scarf  Stocking  Sunglasses  Suspenders  Tights

Footwear

Athletic shoe  Boot  Dress shoe  Flip-flops  Hosiery  Pump  Sandal  Shoe  Slipper  Sock

Headwear

Balaclava  Cap  Fascinator  Gaung Paung  Hat  Headband  Helmet  Hijab  Hood  Kerchief  Mantilla  Niqb  Sombrero  Turban  Ushanka  Veil

Nightwear

Babydoll  Blanket sleeper  Negligee  Nightcap  Nightgown  Nightshirt  Peignoir  Pajamas

Swimwear

Bikini  Swim diaper  Wetsuit

Clothing parts

Back closure  Buckle  Button  Buttonhole  Collar  Cuff  Elastic  Fly  Hemline  Hook-and-eye  Lapel  Neckline  Pocket  Shoulder pad  Shoulder strap  Sleeve  Snap  Strap  Velcro  Waistline  Zipper

National costume

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Historical garments

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See also

Adaptive clothing  Adult diaper  Bathrobe  Costume  Fashion  Ironing  Laundry  Locking clothing  Reversible garment

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