Roman Clothing & Laundry (II)
Tunics – knee-length sleeveless garments secured at the shoulders by brooches (or sewn) and at the waist by a belt of leather or cloth. Some tunics were floor-length and long-sleeved, but most were cut short to allow greater freedom of movement. The basic white tunic would be dyed to indicate one’s status or occupation, just as with the toga, and members of sports teams would have their tunics all dyed the same color (as would some of their fans). Some styles of tunic, with longer sleeves and varying necklines, were favored by male and female prostitutes who might also have them dyed to attract more attention.
Trousers – usually only worn by soldiers, especially cavalry, and gladiators
Togas – the well-known outer garment of the upper-class Roman, usually associated with men but also worn by women. The toga was worn over a tunic or on its own. Scholars Lesley and Roy A. Adkins comment:
The toga was an expensive, heavy garment of fine natural white wool, and required frequent cleaning by the fuller. It was roughly semicircular in shape, about 5.5 m (18 ft) wide and 2.1 (7 ft) deep. It had to be draped in a complicated manner around the body, and several emperors had to issue decrees to enforce its use on public occasions [because it was such a bother]…The toga showed differences in the social order. The toga praetexta (bordered toga) had a purple stripe and was worn by magistrates. (344)
Other togas had different colored stripes signifying the social status of the wearer. An upper-class single woman would have worn a tunic until puberty when she was expected to put away all things associated with childhood and become a woman. At this time, she would have worn a simple white toga, perhaps over a tunic. Married women wore a tunic under a full-length dress known as a stola. Adkins comments:
Women also wore cloaks. The clothes of the wealthy were in rich colors and fine materials, such as muslins and silks. In some areas, women also wore close-fitting bonnets and hairnets. (345)
Men, of course, also wore cloaks and capes made of wool or leather and these, just like all of the above, had to be cleaned regularly. The Romans did not bathe or do laundry at home. Most of the citizens could not have done so even if they wanted to because they lived in apartment buildings (insula) which were usually dark, poorly ventilated, and, in most cases, had no running water. Aqueducts, that brought water into the city, usually fed public fountains, pools, businesses, and Roman baths, not private residences.
Roman toga in Tarragona
Other togas had different colored stripes signifying the social status of the wearer. An upper-class single woman would have worn a tunic until puberty when she was expected to put away all things associated with childhood and become a woman. At this time, she would have worn a simple white toga, perhaps over a tunic. Married women wore a tunic under a full-length dress known as a stola. Adkins comments:
Women also wore cloaks. The clothes of the wealthy were in rich colors and fine materials, such as muslins and silks. In some areas, women also wore close-fitting bonnets and hairnets. (345)
Men, of course, also wore cloaks and capes made of wool or leather and these, just like all of the above, had to be cleaned regularly. The Romans did not bathe or do laundry at home. Most of the citizens could not have done so even if they wanted to because they lived in apartment buildings (insula) which were usually dark, poorly ventilated, and, in most cases, had no running water. Aqueducts, that brought water into the city, usually fed public fountains, pools, businesses, and Roman baths, not private residences.
Every free person in the city, therefore, had to bring their clothes to the fullers to be cleaned, but besides their primary function, the fuller also dyed the tunics, capes, and togas, pleated the married woman’s stola, and finished off the process of readying a fabric to be made into a garment or felting a garment so it would be waterproof.
