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The Uxor\'s Roman Makeover, Part 1
#1
Over the last year my wife has accompanied me to several roman events and found them to be quite enjoyable. Lately though she has complained to me that she finds the usual roman attire of the Domina, a palla, solla, and tunica combination, rather stale and too conservative, she prefers something sexier and with more bling. I'm currently researching alternatives. One idea is duplicating the look of the Terrified Initiate as seen on the fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii.

Starting from bottom to top, the first effort concerns footwear. Upon researching roman soleae I've found that very little is known regarding the strap arrangements. We have lots of solea soles and some of the construction details may be gleamed. A few typical characteristics are:

1. Soles were made from multiple layers of leather
2. The toe strap did not extend all the way through the sole
3. Soles used both a thong running about the edge and nails to hold the layers together

Here is an image of the solea from the fresco:[attachment=0:2z2lnfqm]<!-- ia0 soleaFresco.jpg<!-- ia0 [/attachment:2z2lnfqm]


Studying the image of the fresco one sees that the sandals that the woman is wearing have side straps and the toe strap ties in front of the ankle. I also assume that there is a heel strap. What I did next is to use one of my wife's modern sandals as a model to fill-in the missing dimensional details. I'm choosing not to nail these, but to rely on just glue and the thong to keep the soles together.

Here is what I came up with:[attachment=2:2z2lnfqm]<!-- ia2 soleaeSmall.jpg<!-- ia2 [/attachment:2z2lnfqm]

and on my daughter's feet (the wife hasn't seen these yet), some further adjustment of the side strap height is likely needed:[attachment=1:2z2lnfqm]<!-- ia1 SoleaeOnfeetSmall.jpg<!-- ia1 [/attachment:2z2lnfqm]


Part 2 of the makeover will deal with the new dress and part 3 jewelry and hair.
Titus Licinius Neuraleanus
aka Lee Holeva
Conscribe te militem in legionibus, vide mundum, inveni terras externas, cognosce miros peregrinos, eviscera eos.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.legiotricesima.org">http://www.legiotricesima.org
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#2
Subscribing to this thread at the behest of my better half. Smile
Non mihi, non tibi, sed nobis

Joe Patt (Paruzynski)
Milton, FL, USA
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