History of Costume

by Richa Dhupar, Azmin Khambata, Soniya Vaswani

Q. Compare the elements of Roman costume in the Etruscan, Republic and Empire periods with the elements of Greek costume during the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Answer. :

The comparison of the Etruscan period with the Classical, Archaic and Hellenistic period:

Greek costume was usually draped from whole pieces of cloth in the early times while Etruscan garments were cut and sewn this is seen in the Roman colobium and the Greek kolobus.

However this was similar to the garments of the Hellenistic period when cuting and sewing became more common as was the additon of sleeves, this can be seen in the Ependytes (a short-sleeved wool wrap).

The Tebennas were similar to the himation only with more variations. The style of layering the Ionic chiton over the Doric chiton was carried forth to the wearing of tebennas over the chiton.

The Ionic chiton of the classical period was similar to the Dedalic chiton only that the fabric of the dedalic chiton was heavier and had a slimmer fit.

The pilos and peplos of the Greek periods were still seen in the Estrucan period.

Hairstyles for men were the same in the estrucan as the archaic and Hellenistic periods when longer hair was favored, not in the classical periods when shorter hair was more common. The clean-shaven look still remained for men with the exception of older, dignified men. Corkscrew curls that cascaded down the back and soft waves that were arranged around the head remained the main hairstyle of the women throughout these four periods.

Greeks wore minimal jewelery which was used more for function like the elaborately decorated fibula as opposed to the Estrucans who wore more exquisite types of jewellery like the Bulla.

While the greeks were mostly barefoot or either wearing sandals or boots, the estrucans made sandals that attracted even Greeks like the calcei repandi.

The comparison of the Republic period with the Classical, Archaic and Hellenistic period:

Roman clothing during the Republic was more Greek than Etruscan in appearance.

From the Etruscan’s, the Romans adapted the toga, based on the Etruscantebenna; the use of stripess or clavi on garments; and a more bulky, covered-up look than was characteristic of greek dress.

Roman men during this period never appeared in public with bare chests, wearing only wraps like the men from the Classical period.

In a painting showing traditionally masked actors in a scene from a comedy, an elderly man wears a colobium which is like the Greek kolobus, a courtesan wears a stola which is similar to the Greek ionic chiton.

Roman men had to learn to drape and handle this huge volume of fabric gracfully just like the men in the Classical Greek period.

Roman men had a variety of less cumbersome wraps which were slight modifications of the Greek chlamys.

The sagum was a small blanket like wrap, adapted by roman soldiers from the Gauls during the republic and it was much the same as the Greek Chlamys.

The romans had hats similar to the Greek pilos and petasos. Some of the roman footwear were similar to the Greek. However, the

republicans had more elaborate styles. The romans wore sandals less often than the Greeks and preferred the

calceus which completely covered the foot, which was contrasting to the Greeks who mostly were bare footed or wore sandals and boots.

The hairstyles were short similar to the classical Greek period. The men were generally clean shaven and seldom wore beards, just like the

classical Greek period. The fibulae and pins were mostly seen in the mens jewellery, which was also

seen during the Classical, Archaic and Hellenistic periods in Greece. Clavi (vertical stripes extending from shoulders of the colobium to the hem

line) was special to the romans and was not seen during the Greek period. Roman women adopted two Greek garments, the stola based on the ionic

chitonand the palla based on the himation. Doric chiton of the greeks sometimes apperead on the children. And also on

roman copies of Greek statues and particularly the statues of minerva, the roman equivalent of Athena.

Roman women of this period must have looked much like Greek women of Classical and Hellenistic periods.

Roman clothing seems to show fewer ways of draping and a somewhat less graceful apperance than Greek clothing.

During the republic, women arranged their hair in the classical Greek style with a center part, soft waves and a bun or chignon at the back.

The comparison of the Empire period with the Classical, Archaic and Hellenistic period:

Most of the clothing found in the Empire period was similar to the Republic period.

There was continuation of Colobium and Toga. The Colobium grew wider (shoulder of the garment could go under the forearm), and Toga was worn until the end of the Empire period but with some modifications.

Toga

The outer layer of the drapery under the right arm was called Sinus, and a pouch at the waist was called Umbo.

It had broad purple stripe along the fold lines, rather than around the curved outer edge.

Pallium remained unchanged.

Feminalia

Knee length breeches To protect from cold, fkoot soldiers and cavalrymen, from the Northern

Province, used it. During the late second century A.D, Emperor Commodus began to wear a

long sleeved tunic instead of a Colobium. A longer version of this garment became known as the Tunica Talaris, which was mid calf length or longer.

The Dalmaticas is a shorter and wider version of the tunica, with wide sleeves.

Lorica was the breast plates worn by the soldiers in the Empire period. During this especially, the men started to wear more jewelry and a wide

variety to jewelry.

Women’s costume, in particular, was very similar to the Greek style of dressing. But something new and interesting was the amount of cloths they wore compared to the Greek women.

They wore under tunic and even under that they wore Strophium, which supported their breasts.

Still softly knotted continued from the Republic period Women bleached their hair to blond because it was in fashion Added hair pieces and semi-precious stones just like in the Greek period They wore wigs made from prisoners’ hair Coil of small braid at the back of the head, and different braided hair styles

came up Brides wore Vitta as a symbol of purity Solea or sandals were worn, and very common Calceus was worn even by women Shoes for brides were in golden and yellow Jewelry: gold replaced iron because wealth from the conquered territories

flooded into Rome.