CERTAIN ROMANCE

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

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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

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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

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See also

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I remember when I first heard the word “job.” I was eight years old. I put together my schoolteachers’ complaints about their jobs and my father’s look of exhaustion when he came home from work that fateful day. I realized in a flash of recognition that I wasn’t going to be allowed to simply play the rest of my life. I’d have to make money to live. I’d have to work. I’d have to get a job! Yikes!

After days of pondering my latest life predicament, lightning struck—bright as a newborn sun! A brainstorm to save my spirit! I’d get a job, but unlike my teachers and father, I’d find a way to make money doing something I liked. I’d get paid to do some activity that I’d be doing anyway whether I got paid or not.

And that’s what I’ve done ever since my first part time job as an usher at my favorite summer concert hall. Food and cooking fascinated me, so I became a chef and owned two fun restaurants. I evolved into becoming the vice-president of the largest natural food company in the world. I loved movies, so I became a filmmaker. I devoured books, so I became an author—and even had my own radio show interviewing authors. I had to cure myself of blindness, so I became a healer, acupuncturist, meditation and yoga teacher. I worship the outdoors, so I now lead Vision Quests into the wilderness. I enjoy helping people, so I’m a personal coach and international seminar leader.

In the Dream Workshops, I share what I’ve learned from personal direct experience about the basic dynamics of all healing, transformation and success.

Align with Your Soul Plan

I’ve discovered that the happiest and healthiest people on the planet are the people who are living their dream—getting paid to do what they love.

How can you make your living doing what you love?

By aligning your personality with your soul. When you align your actions and attitude with your true passion in life, you align with your destiny in being here. When you align your life with your true purpose, you are automatically in alignment with the soul plan and passion of every other person on Earth. Thus through natural synchronicity, every other person on the planet assists you to achieve your goals and happiness. In the workshops you discover your bliss, your calling. You begin to sing your own unique song, and open to getting well supported for it.

The Dream Workshops are fun, exciting experiential Gatherings of Equals. People come together to share as equals in wisdom, love and power. You access a clear, lasting connection to your intuition, your trustworthy inner guidance. You open the door to more magic, meaning and money in your world. You create your life as a fun, joyous adventure.

You tap into the miraculous pool of energy used by Jesus, St. Germain, Sai Baba, Mother Mary and Buddha. These wonderful beings are my teachers, but the Dream Workshops are not associated with any specific disciplines, but draw upon the common wisdom and truth from them all. I also lived with, and learned the secrets of, native shamans and medicine men and women.

How Now Brown Cow?

How do the Dream Workshops empower you to manifest your heart’s desire? After a lifetime of exploration, I’ve assembled the most effective transformational tools available on the planet. On the workshops, you master techniques to help you in two basic ways. Firstly, you learn how to pour creative energy into the realities that you want to manifest in your life. Secondly, you learn how to remove the obstacles that prevent you from having these dreams.

You free yourself from limiting patterns that block happiness, health, wealth and romance. You naturally release yourself from karma, trauma and drama. You attract your perfect partner for passion, play or profession. You uncover an inner peace that transcends fear. You open to alchemy, adventure and aliveness. You recover the boundless energy and excitement that you enjoyed as a child.

Return to Innocence

How do we do get back the innocence and joy of childhood?

In the workshops you learn hands-on techniques to shift yourself from fear to fun, disaster to delight, and tragedy to ecstasy. You re-awaken your direct knowing and your natural creative and spiritual powers. You gain tools to shift conflict into harmony, illness into wellness, and scarcity into prosperity. You discover your worth, master money, deepen intimacy and refresh your spirit. You rekindle the fire in your belly, the primal excitement that is life itself.

Beyond Beliefs!

The Dream Workshops go beyond words and beliefs, beyond methods and formulas. I facilitate the workshops with a total respect for your intuition and individual choice and pace. Each gathering is tailored and customized to your specific aspirations in life. The workshops are living beings—they grow and change with the people who show up. Each gathering is fresh, spontaneous and organic.

Grow with Grace

The workshops are about personal direct experience and discovery, not theory or philosophy. The workshops are experiential, not simply intellectual. They’re a heart trip, not just a head trip—world lessons, not word lessons. You create with the awesome power of pure vibration, creative life force energy—Alchemy, Grace.

You use the power of your peak experiences in life to transform the aspects of your life you want to change now.

If you would like to, take a moment right now and feel the vibration, the energy, of a time in your life when you were in the flow, in the zone, in a groove, on a roll, alive, vibrant, open, creative, or—as they say in New Orleans—cookin! Enjoy the feeling, the energy, the vibration, of that experience. Don’t just remember, observe or witness the event—let yourself sink into the feeling, merge with the energy, of that moment.

Re-experiencing the vibration of these moments has the power to transmute any stuck or undesirable situation in your life.

Using the law of attraction, you then vibrationally draw to you the people, love, health, resources and opportunities to build your dream.

Ground Level Change

In the workshops the changes you make are cellular, not superficial—lasting, permanent benefits. You transform your being—not just your beliefs! In fact, I don’t ask you to believe anything I say. I help you create your own personal, direct, tangible, factual evidence that you can create the life you desire. In the workshops you replace effort and stress with ease and success. You release the magic inside you.

How do you unleash this magic?

By going to where the action is—the life force—and learning to master your personal power. The Dream Workshops present new and ancient tools to activate your natural energy gateways. You awaken your natural system of energy channels—your acupuncture meridians—and your seven energy centers—your seven chakras.

You learn how to transmute so-called “negative” emotions into “energy-in-motion”—pure aliveness and personal power. Weighty, difficult “problems” of life become light-hearted, changeable “situations.” Old conflicts resolve! Relationships soar! Your bank account mushrooms! You just plain have more fun!

You unseal the power to take yourself from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow—in business, body, bedroom and well-being. When you show up for your dream, your dream shows up for you. This is the stuff of magic, miracles—and the coming home to Grace!

Take a Dream Quest

I also present my approach to transformation through Vision Quests in Sedona and Hawaii. The Vision Quest is an outdoor shaman adventure in self-discovery. You renew personal creativity and find life passion. You receive practical messages from spirit through animals, wind, sun, trees and waterfalls. You let Nature show you the way to love, health and riches.

And, I offer the Dream Workshops tools through CD’s and books, one-on-one coaching in person or on the phone, and through personal apprenticeship.

You can call me at 800.736.7367 for personal coaching, or for the next exciting experiential workshop nearest you. Or explore my website, www.TheDream.com, where you’ll find lots of helpful articles and tools.

Journey in Beauty. Enjoy the adventure!

About the Author

Drawing from the wisdom of native and ancient spiritual traditions, Keith Varnum shares his 30 years of practical success as an author, personal coach, acupuncturist, filmmaker, radio host, restaurateur, vision quest guide and international seminar leader with “The Dream Workshops”. Keith helps people get the love, money, and health they want with his F-r-e-e Prosperity Ezine, F-r-e-e Abundance Tape and F-r-e-e Coaching at www.TheDream.com

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