Roman Clothing and Fashion Paperback – September 15, 2010

So often we envision Roman (and Greek) clothing based on statues of Gods and Goddesses, the Animal House Toga Party, or worse yet on artists' renditions that are purely fantasy and idealistic notions of what we think they looked like. While this has produced beautiful art from Renaissance painters and beyond, the truth is none of those three sources are really really reliable when it comes to what was worn by people of all classes in Italian Rome.Croom's book is, by far, the most thorough and comprehensive anthology of Roman authors descriptions of the mode of their time (and of ages past), historically documented Roman law (which sometimes dictated what men and women could or could not wear), art FROM the Roman Empire that has survived, as well as artifacts that have been recovered, dating from the era. By compiling and comparing information from ALL of those sources, Croom does an amazing job of painting a mental picture of what the Roman man, woman, child, slave, priest/ess, soldier, senator, and emperor would look like. On top of that, Crook does her best to articulate the changing fashion trends over the numerous centuries that Rome ruled - and she even includes a section on what "provincial Romans" (those who lived in more rural areas away from the booming metropolis of the capitol, as well as those who lived in other territories and nation states that were subsumed into the Roman Empire).As a professional costume designer, seamstress, and reenactor, I was delighted to see that Croom included a variety of art and artifact image references, as well as illustrations that traced the actual silhouettes or shapes of clothing. (How many millions of folds and swooping cloth swatches can we look at on decaying pieces of Roman art, before those of us who are trying to figure out how something might have been sewn or fashioned together say, "What the heck am I looking at?!?" All of the visual references are extremely helpful in understanding what the difference between a tunica, toga, stolla, palla, and mantle are.This book is a must read for Roman historians, reenactors, art historians and enthusiasts, fashion designers and historians, and those who really want to understand the construction of Roman and Roman-inspired dress.

I bought the Kindle version. I mostly read it on my PC, as I have a Kindle Touch. It was well-formatted, and the photos (there were many) cemented my resolve to get a Kindle Fire. It's easy to read on the Touch, but for the photos you want a color screen.As for the content, it was exactly what I was looking for. It goes in depth about clothing styles and fabrics, and which fabrics could be dyed which color. She speaks of how people dressed from region-to-region as well, and provides copious illustrations. If you're interested in an in-depth understanding of clothing, add this book to your bookshelf.

There is a great deal of information in this book. The author has done extensive investigation into Roman clothing, especially during the Empire, and has given specifics on clothing for women, men, and children. It was fascinating reading how little clothing changed for hundreds of years. The old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" definitely applies here. The vast majority of people wore tunics of one form or another throughout the Roman world, with regional variations. It was also interesting, but not unexpected, that woman had very different societal requirements for clothing. Basically, women were supposed to be covered from head to toe whenever in public with only their faces and hands showing. In general, clothing played a big role in defining Roman "castes." Magistrates had definitive clothing, as did the military, Equestrians, the poor, and slaves.The author also provides a great number of illustrations / pictures. However, the illustrations chosen often make it difficult to discern the object of clothing and how it is worn. It would have been much better if the author had adjusted the illustrations to eliminate other pieces of clothing and only highlighted the relevant pieces. In addition, a step-by-step illustration of draping the toga would have been much better rather than simple text.Even so, I recommend the book to those interested in ancient Roman history, history of the Mediterranean, history of clothing, and ancient social structures.

Fascinating book for anyone interested in fashion history. Well written and easy to read, the book gives good details on the many facets of roman dress. There are a few color primary sources cited in the book but I wish there were more. All in all a great book for lovers of costuming!

I'd buy this book again if I could! It touches on many areas and really gives a reader an understanding of this fashion. Thank you for this book!

reference material

This publication is an excellent addition to "The World of Roman Costume", particularly Dr. Norma Goldman's chapter on 'Reconstructing Roman Clothing'. As reenactors as well as students, we have made this book a standard for reconstructions.

I rated the book 4-stars because it reads like a textbook but the applicable color illustrations are all at the end of the book. There are some line drawings throughout but not enough to be very illustrative.