Women in Ancient Rome - Daily Life - Attire and Adornment

Attire and Adornment

See also: Cosmetics in ancient Rome and Clothing in ancient Rome

Women in ancient Rome took great care in their appearance, though extravagance was frowned upon. They wore cosmetics and made different concoctions for their skin. Ovid even wrote a poem about the correct application of makeup. Women used white chalk or arsenic to whiten their faces, or rouge made of lead or caramine to add color to their cheeks as well as using lead to highlight their eyes. They spent much time arranging their hair and often dyed it black, red, or blonde. They also wore wigs regularly.

Matrons usually wore two simple tunics for undergarments covered by a stola. The stola was a long white dress that was cinched at the waist and which fell to the wearer’s feet, secured by clasps at the shoulder. Wealthier women would decorate their stola further. When going out a woman wore a palla over her stola, which was held by a clasp at the shoulder. Women of questionable morals or young women were not permitted to wear a stola, and instead wore tunics. Wealthy women wore jewels such as emeralds, aquamarine, opal, and pearls as earrings, necklaces, rings and sometimes sewn onto their shoes and clothing.

In the aftermath of Roman defeat at Cannae, economic crisis provoked the passing of the Lex Oppia (215 BC) to restrict personal and public extravagance. The law limited women's possession and display of gold and silver (as money or personal ornament), expensive clothing and their "unnecessary" use of chariots and litters. Victory over Carthage flooded Rome with wealth and in 195 BC the Lex Oppia was reviewed. The ruling consul, Cato the Censor argued for its retention: personal morality and self-restraint were self-evidently inadequate controls on indulgence and luxury. Luxury provoked the envy and shame of those less well-off, and was therefore divisive. Roman women, in Cato's view, had showed only too clearly that their appetites once corrupted knew no limits, and must be restrained. Large numbers of Roman matrons thought otherwise, and made concerted public protest. In 193 BC the laws were abolished: Cato's opposition did not harm his political career. Later, in 42 BC, Roman women, led by Hortensia, successfully protested against laws designed to tax Roman women, by use of the argument of no taxation without representation. Evidence of a lessening on luxury restrictions can also be found; one of the Letters of Pliny is addressed to the woman Pompeia Celerina praising the luxuries she keeps in her villa.