Women's Clothing: 100 - 27 BCE

The Late Republic: c.100-27 BCE

• All women (except prostitutes) wore an under tunic (usually unseen) called the subucula
• Working women wore the tunica alone. Working women's hems ranged mid-calf to just below the knees. This allowed greater freedom of movement and kept the fabric from dragging on the ground. The t-tunic style of tunica was starting to be worn by working women at this time. It was much more practical for working women than other styles.
• Lower status married women (e.i. – women married to non-citizens) wore the tunica & palla. The hem of the tunica was long enough to wear belted under the bust with only the toes showing.
• Unmarried upperclass women dressed in the tunica and palla like the lower status married women, but with better fabrics. Because the legal age for marriage was 12 years old for girls, and because Roman law and social policies advocated marriage, unmarried Roman women over the age of 12 were not common. However, there are examples of noblewomen who never married, such as Matidia Minor (85 BCE - c161 CE), the half-sister of Empress Vibia Sabina, who was the wife of Emperor Hadrian. Roman women would also dress in the tunica and palla when they were between husbands through divorce or being widowed. Not wearing the stola marked an adult woman as being available for courtship.
• Married women of all classes, as long as they were married to a Roman citizen, were considered matronae (matrons) and wore the sleeved tunica, stola, and palla.

• 3 kinds of tunicas:
  • Tunica Capitium (T-tunic Style): This style is not commonly seen at this time. It is usually only found on working-class women. This style usually had short sleeves, but long sleeves can be found in the extant artwork. Unfortunately we don't have an extant examples from this period.
    • The Tunica Capitium (plural "capitii") was sleeved tunic worn by women that was probably woven to shape in one piece, with a fold at the shoulders and a woven opening for the head.
    • Usually appears to have a slightly scooped neck, but that may be artistic license since other tunics at this period appear to have the more traditionally Roman straight slit neckline.
      • It's possible that the slight scoop on women's tunics could have been created by making the front wider than the back, as was done with other styles of tunicas. That would create a scoop without requiring round cuts or extensive hemming.
    • The tunics were cut full enough for movement, but not overly full. The side seam(s) ould be left unsewn for several inches at the hem for greater movement.
    • The tunics are usually shown ankle length or shorter
    • They could be worn belted under the breasts, or unbelted and hanging loose.
    • NO CLAVI! The working women's t-tunic styles tunicas did not use clavi during this period. The wearing of clavi, and the width worn by various ranks, was still tightly controlled during this period.

• Tunica Recta or Tunica Aclassis (straight tunic): sleeveless tunics, which may have the appearance of sleeves due to belting under the bust and the shoulders draping onto the upper arm .
  • Worn by women as both a subucula (under tunic) and as a primary garment/gown
  • This style is traditionally defined in costuming sources as a simple long rectangle of fabric, with minimal seaming. It is identified as being identical to the men’s tunicas of this period, except that a woman's tunica recta never had clavi. The difference between the Tunica Recta and the Tunica Aclassis was in construction:
    • Tunica Recta:
      • The construction for the tunica recta is suggested by an event in the life of Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus. According to Kenneth Matthews in his article "The Imperial Wardrobe of Ancient Rome", when Octavian performed the ritual of assuming his toga virilis, his tunica recta came unsewn at the shoulders and fell to his feet. Observers at the ceremony, such as Nicolaus of Damascus, considered this a good omen.
      • This comment suggests that the tunica recta was sewn closed at the shoulders to create the shoulder seam. It is unlikely that there were two constructions of something that was considered a basic garment, and it is stated in many places that the tunica recta worn by men and women is identical.
      • It appears likely that the tunica recta was constructed:
        • From fabric woven as a tube with the shoulders sewn closed; or
        • From fabric woven as a rectangle and turned on its side, with a single seam at the side and the shoulders sewn closed
        • Either construction would potentially allow the maker to sew the tunic with a wider front, creating a slightly dipping neckline
        • Both constructions can be found in extant Roman tunics
        • “sleeves” are created by letting the excess fabric hang down the arms
    • Tunica Aclassis:
      • The Tunica Aclassis is defined as a tunic that is "unstitched over the shoulders". This is generally interpretted as a tunic made by folding a long length of cloth and cutting an opening for the head (though a head opening could also have been woven into the cloth).
      • This construction is not typically Roman, but has been found in Roman archaeological sites in Egypt and the near east.
    • Common features of both tunics:
      • Neckline appears to be either: straight across (shown on both men and women ), or a slight scoop or drape created by using a wider piece of fabric in front than in back
      • Men and women wore the tunic belted or unbelted. Men wore their belt at the waist, while women belted their tunics below the bust
      • Usually ankle to below the knee length on women after belting, and shorter on men

• The Stola (Overdress):
  • 5 identifying characteristics:
    • The stola was worn exclusively as an overdress! It was never worn alone, and almost always over a tunica with sleeves. The most common combination is a stola over a gap-sleeved tunica, but other combinations can occasionally be found.
    • The stola is traditionally made out of wool. In “Symbolism in the Costume of the Roman Woman” Judith Sebesta states that while the garments of priests and priestesses had to be made entirely of wool, common togas could be made of blends of wool and linen, or even cotton or other vegetable fibers. It is possible that women’s ceremonial garments were made entirely of wool, but, like the common togas, their common stolae could be made of wool blends as well.
    • The stola was constructed like the tunica recta – as a simple tube with some means of attaching the shoulders (fabric knots, round pins/brooches, or thin straps) though the exact construction and appearance of the stola changed quite a bit over time.
    • The stola was worn double-belted in this period: the garment was extremely long and, after being belted under the bust, a second belt was added at the low waist/hips. The excess length was then pulled up through the low belt and arranged in a long fold around the hips. This arrangement emphasizes wider hips/smaller bust combination that was the Roman feminine ideal.
    • Hem is long enough to cover the feet, with only the toes showing where they protrude from underneath the skirts.

• Cingulum or Zona (Belt or sash):
  • Roman women appear to have always tied their tunics and stolas high under the bust, rather than at the waist.
    • Depictions of women wearing their tunic belted at the waist or hips are likely to be goddesses or priestesses, or copies of Greek artwork
    • Roman women also did not use the style of belting common to earlier Greek women, where the belt cord was tied around the shoulders and waist.
  • Belts consist of twisted cords (wool, linen, or possibly silk for the very rich), narrow strips of cloth, or narrow woven bands
  • Roman women frequently tied their belts in a reef knot, or Hercules knot, with only short ends hanging down
  • Another common style of tying the belt looks similar to the bow on the traditional Laurel wreath
  • The visible belt was usually in a contrasting or complementary color to the tunic or stola. The second belt, which was worn with the stola, was wider but hidden.
  • Modern scholars and reenactors often say that belting under the bust is “unnatural” because, unless you are pregnant, there is nothing to hold the belt up. This depends entirely on your build. Slender women may have difficulty with under-bust belts slipping down if they aren't pinned to the garments or run through hidden belt loops. If you are built like the ideal Roman woman, on the other hand, high belting is not a problem!
  • Belting under the bust when wearing long, loose-fitting clothing actually creates along visual line and make you look less “dumpy”.

• Palla (mantle):
  • The palla consisted of a long rectangle of cloth, with straight edges on all sides, which could cover the body from the head or shoulder to the knee or lower calf. They were probably 5 yards long x 45-60” wide.
  • Usually plain colored fabric, but could have solid color, contrasting borders on the edges and /or ends
  • The palla was worn by draping one end in front of the left shoulder, bringing the rest behind the back, passing either over the right shoulder to conceal most of the wearer, or brought under her right arm. The remainder could then be draped over the left shoulder, over the left arm, or secured in some other way.
    • It is believed that the palla was not pinned into place, although the use of small, hidden fibula cannot be entirely ruled out. Like the toga, the bulk of the palla was probably held in, or controlled by, the hands.
    • This would not present much of a problem for the rich who had slaves to accompany them and carry things for them, but would have presented a problem for working class women who were also required to protect their modesty and reputation by wearing the palla.
      • There are a number of depictions of working-class women wearing their pallae tied in large knots on their hips in order to keep their hands free to do their work.
  • Throughout most of the Republican period, women traditionally wore the palla draped over their head when in public, and truly modest women protected their pudicitia (modesty and moral purity) by using the palla to fully conceal their body and clothing, from their feet to below their knees when in public.
    • Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, co-consul in 166 BC with Marcus Claudius Marcellus, divorced his wife for going unveiled in public, thereby allowing everyone to see what should be reserved for her husband alone.
  • These moral standards became more relaxed over time. By the late Republic the majority of Roman art shows women in both public and private settings with unveiled heads. For example, the Ara Pacis frieze, which was commissioned in 13 BCE, depicts outdoor, public processions which include both women who are veiled and women who are not. (The woman on the far left of the frieze, who is holding a child's hand, is wearing a long-sleeved tunica, stola, and palla, but does not have her head veiled. The woman in the center, on the other hand, has her palla pulled up over her head.)
  • It's possible that by the late Republic period it was up to the husband whether he expected his wife to be veiled while in public or not. On the other hand, by the early 1st century CE men were complaining about how the palla shrouded women from view. Nevertheless, the palla was the necessary covering for a modest woman and no respectable woman would leave her house without her palla, even if she did not wear it over her head or conceal her body with it.

• Udones (Socks):
  • Statues of this era usually show women in sandals without socks, but women could, and did, wear both leg wraps and socks on occasion.
  • Another word for sock, soccus, also mean “Slipper” depending on the context, so sometimes it’s hard to tell what exactly is meant in the texts
  • The “flame-colored socci” mentioned by Catullus as part of a bride’s traditional clothing probably meant slippers (closed shoes) rather than socks
  • Pliny also mentions women fixing pearls not only to the straps of their sandles, but all over their little socci – this could refer to embellished socks intended to be seen under the sandals, or embellished wool slippers

• Colors & Patterns
  • It is thought that female costume during the last few centuries of the Republic appears to not make much use of borders and patterns (but this may be from bias of the surviving evidence)
  • While upperclass men seemed to have preferred white tunics, women were more likely to wear colors
    • Linen and silk were primarily available in pastel colors at this time
    • Wool was available in vivid colors
    • Linen and silk could be woven with wool to produce some colored effects
    • Violet and yellow were closely associated with women’s garments, but purple, sky-blue, water-color, saffron, green, amethyst, chestnut, almond, and wax-yellow, plus many others, were also available.