Women's wear

[mjsanta83]

JMJ -

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I would like to ask it again.

Does anyone have any pictures/design for woman's tunica, stola and/or shoes?

I've found a few sites, but nothing that really gives me a definitive view or design.

My wife is actually interested in reenacting.  That and I accidentally bought a pinkish color wool instead of red so we figured we could make her something.

Any help is appreciated.

[Crispianus]

Does anyone have any pictures/design for woman's tunica, stola and/or shoes?

Time and geograpical area? to some extent this is important.... theres any number of different styled shoes that could be worn by woman...

[mjsanta83]

Time would be early first century.

Geographical area...? Had never really thought of that before. Italia, Cisalpine Gaul, or Hispania. Depends on the information I can get.

[thucydides93]

I A.D. ?
You can look at Pompei's paintings, there's quite  a lot of exemples about first century Italic women's attire potrayed in those.

[MonsGraupius]

Time would be early first century.  

Geographical area...?  Had never really thought of that before.  Italia, Cisalpine Gaul, or Hispania.  Depends on the information I can get.

What class of person?

[Crispianus]

Well heres the rub, I dont know of any examples of women clothing from Archaeology from the regions mentioned and no studies either..... so would be interested to see something as well, in the absence of evidence I suggest perhaps getting a copy of "Roman Clothing and Fashion" by Alexandra Croom, about 20 dollars and should be some use, but make sure you get the most recent version which I think is 2010....

On Shoes for Women for the early first Century Ad: again one of the most difficult areas as there are few surviving womens shoes from this time, two types that come in a variety of sizes the "Mainz" boot (plain leather or hobnailed sole) which is widespread and the the lower cut Panopolis type shoe, but again no examples from spain only hobnails that I know of.... Sandals have always been popular so I would expect to find those as well in a number of varieties...

otherwise your largely limited to interpreting sculpture and other images...

[MonsGraupius]

Well heres the rub, I dont know of any examples of women clothing from Archaeology from the regions mentioned and no studies either..... so would be interested to see something as well, in the absence of evidence I suggest perhaps getting a copy of "Roman Clothing and Fashion" by Alexandra Croom, about 20 dollars and should be some use, but make sure you get the most recent version which I think is 2010....

On Shoes for Women for the early first Century Ad: again one of the most difficult areas as there are few surviving womens shoes from this time, two types that come in a variety of sizes the "Mainz" boot (plain leather or hobnailed sole) which is widespread and the the lower cut Panopolis type shoe, but again no examples from spain only hobnails that I know of.... Sandals have always been popular so I would expect to find those as well in a number of varieties...

otherwise your largely limited to interpreting sculpture and other images...

There 's a number of shoes at Vindoland Roman fort.

[Crispianus]

There 's a number of shoes at Vindoland Roman fort.

I know of thousands of Roman shoes and the vast majority are later then the Early 1st century AD..... shoes styles change over time and their quite datable.....
The Vindolanda shoes that have been published are  85AD+ and later, there are hundreds(if not thousands) that have not yet been published but would be very much suprised if there is anything earlier, as they would predate the forts...

From spain itself the only "shoe" I know of is this Esparto grass sandal, esparto was used even for things such as water bottles(lined with pitch) its well made and would likely have been common despite its rarity today, largely because survival chance would be low in this condition, surprisingly there are also a number of carbonised soles of similar footwear from Pompeii:

   

CALZADO DE ESPARTO length 25cm, Roman mining area of Mazarrón (Murcia) Museo Arqueológico Cartagena (copyright holder of original image, this one reduced for study purposes)

   

Esparto sole from Pompeii (79 AD)

[mjsanta83]

Thanks for the information. Couple of things:

Early 1st century AD.

A woman of wealth. Maybe not great wealth, but not poor.

I will definitely check out the book and keep reading.

Thanks again.

[Crispianus]

Thanks for the information. Couple of things:

Early 1st century AD.

A woman of wealth.  Maybe not great wealth, but not poor.

I will definitely check out the book and keep reading.

Thanks again.

Formally(in public) Closed shoes, Informally (indoors) Sandals... though this may only apply to Citizens, unfortunatly as I said there is little physical evidence to style mostly relying on art evidence open to interpretation, what is shown though is that the shoes completely cover the foot at least with men often with a flap across the front, unfortunatly its usually the case the womens feet are partially covered by their gowns exposing only the toes, images showing variously bare feet, sandals or closed shoes.... these shoes can be low cut (perhaps slip ons or have a laced? opening on the inside of the foot or be something else entirely) they would most likely not be hobnailed for town use, a servant may well carry a pair of sandals for you in the event you were invited into someones house....

Ara Pacis Procession
https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com...193300.png

Basically it shows the royal family only one man appears to be wearing openwork shoes though its unclear if his feet are uncovered, as for the rest they all appear to be wearing closed footwear, of course ordinary people can be as uncouth as they like no doubt...


A Roman copy of a greek original the girl wears what appear to be un-nailed Calcai of the Panopolis style theres no way of telling from this sculpture if the shoes are original Hellenistic or contemporary Roman fashion... this type is laced across the front of the ankle via tabs as can be seen on the right foot shoe and either tied with a hercules knot or a bow...

   

[mjsanta83]

   

Got it.  The pictures are very helpful.

(I have no idea why the picture is sideways.  It shows up everywhere else the right way.)