Clothing And Status In Ancient Rome

The overall male ensemble made a strong statement about the persons status in society

, even when a man did not wear his toga, then design, color and materials all communicated his status to the onlooker.

The Toga

The Roman toga was an obvious way to identify a roman citizen, the toga was a garment that the roman authority forbade slaves and foreigners to wear.Its was a dignified but uncomfortable garment and was only used on ceremonial and formal occasions. The toga was worn alone or preferably over a tunic.

The tunic

The roman tunic was a standard garment for Roman men from all classes and was worn as a base garment or just alone. It had a basic design too. To design a tunic, two pieces of knee-length pieces of clothing were sewn together to create an opening for arms and neck. The tunic was then fastened with a cingulum or belt at the waist. This was used to adjust the garments length.

The tunic was the only garment that slaves as well as foreigners were allowed to wear. This for the former, made them to blend in with men from the lower strata of society though slaves from affluent households often wore better clothes than the liberated poor.

Tunics for manual laborers were hitched above the knee for greater flexibility and freedom of movement. Materials used for such garments were also of poor quality and usually wool was employed. People from affluent households wore longer tunics that reached the knee. Tunics were also made from linen and or silk and decorated using embroidery.

The decoration of the tunic was also an indicator of class, office or rank. The decor used was usually in the form of stripe or border referred to as clavis. People from the Equestrian order wore exclusive tunics known as Tunica Angusticlavia, this was a tunic with narrow, purple strip that ran from the shoulder to the hem. Public officers such as senators wore tunica laticlavia, this had a purple stripe.

Ordinary folks were forbidden from wearing tunics with the above mentioned vertical stripes. The only person allowed to wear exclusively purple tunic was the emperor.

Roman tunic became more fashionable in the reign of Emperor Caesar, this is because the emperor introduced tunics with fringed sleeves. By the second century AD, sleeved tunics had become the norm after being shunned at first as effeminate garments which were against the roman austere ideas.

Roman Footwear

The Roman footwear were sandals known as Soleae also Sandalia. This was worn indoors. Sandalia was a simplified sole fastened by fixed cords. The oldest form of sandals worn by the romans were the carbatinia. These were made of hide, that is ox hide, they were fastened to the ankles by thongs.

Outdoors, the romans wore shoes known as calcei, these completely covered the toes. These were also the only shoes allowed to be used by the toga. Slaves carried their masters sandals when they were out visiting so that they could revert to their sandals when they reached their destination.

by: Mathieu Courchesne

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