Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The toga was considered Rome's "national costume," privileged to Roman citizens but for day-to-day activities most Romans preferred more casual, practical and comfortable clothing; the tunic, in various forms, was the basic garment for all classes, both sexes and most occupations. It was usually made of linen, and was augmented as necessary ...
The other problem is that the Romans took or stole most of the designs from other peoples. Fragments of surviving clothing and wall paintings indicate that the basic tunic of the Roman soldier was of red or undyed (off-white) wool. [3] Senior commanders are known to have worn white cloaks and plumes.
Statue of the Emperor Tiberius showing a draped toga of the 1st century AD. The toga (/ ˈ t oʊ ɡ ə /, Classical Latin: [ˈt̪ɔ.ɡa]), a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between 12 and 20 feet (3.7 and 6.1 m) in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body.
Roman clothing took on symbolic meaning for later generations. Roman armour, particularly the muscle cuirass, has symbolized amazing power. In Europe during the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries AD), painters and sculptors sometimes depicted rulers wearing pseudo-Roman military attire, including the cuirass, military cloak, and sandals.
It has long been believed that Roman women originally did not wear stolae and that they instead wore togas like the men. However, this goes back to a scholarly lore invented in Late Antiquity. [9] [10] For the most part, the toga was worn exclusively by men, and Roman wives (matronae) traditionally wore the stola.
The crests were usually made of plumes or horse hair. While the fur is usually red, the crests possibly occurred in other colors, like yellow, purple and black, and possibly in combinations of these colors such as alternating yellow and black. Gladiators such as the samnis and the hoplomachus also probably wore large feathered crests.
Over the course of ancient Roman history, the angusticlavia lost its symbolic meaning and class association. Wall paintings and other representations of the Roman past "show all types of men and boys wearing stripes of similar width – but there were later attempts to enforce or reintroduce the senatorial and equestrian classes". [9]
In particular, Romans did not like unnatural colors on the eyes and overlined eyes. [11] This was why men generally viewed the use of cosmetics as deceitful and manipulative. [12] Vestal Virgins did not do makeup because they were supposed to look holy and chaste.