---
node: fashion_roman_empire
type: fashion
slug: roman_empire_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Roman Empire"
lead: "Under the Empire the toga became a heavy, ceremonial garment and the tunic took over for everyday wear; costly silk imported from the East was moralised against even as dress grew in colour and pattern."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
image_file: roman_empire_fashion.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresco,_Portrait_of_a_the_Baker_Terentius_Neo_and_His_Wife.jpg"
image_author: "TyB"
image_license: "CC BY 2.0"
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section, with a period image (italy region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

The wealth and trade of the Empire brought silk and other rich textiles across its provinces.

## Key garments and style

Men wore a tunic woven with clavi (vertical stripes) day to day and the toga for ceremony; women wore the stola over a tunic and the palla when out. The wide-sleeved dalmatica later spread, and dyed colour signalled rank.

## Transition

After the fall of the Western Empire, dress shifted toward Byzantine and early-medieval European styles.