There is an old Greek saying, that ‘the style is the man’. The Romans followed this to the letter, because while it may seem trivial today, fashion was very important to the romans. The lives of the people in the Roman Empire, and specifically Rome itself, were shaped by fashion. How did it impact their lives? Fashion was important to the Romans because it denoted age, power, and even impacted history.
In Ancient Rome, it was fairly easy to tell the general age of a person. Most commonly, you could tell whether the person was an adult or a child, which sounds silly today, but considering that people lived drastically shorter lives, it would make more useful. One could tell if a man was a citizen because “[c]utting the first beard was a rite …show more content…
As it says earlier, clothing was the most common way to tell a person’s class, age, and importance in society. But to look good cost people a great amount of difficulty. Such as, many people would wear jewelry filled with lead. But, “[leads] use continued in Rome even after its poisonous effects were recognised” (Powerdressing). Lead is poisonous to people’s skin, even though it was poisonous people still wore it because it was a big part of fashion and people would risk their lives for looking good in public. Another example of the impact fashion made was with the Emperor’s. In fact many of the fashion trends made in Rome were started by the Emperor himself. As it states in the article “Roman Clothing” it says, “Emperors, however, became style setters” (vroma). Since the Emperor's were looked up to by the people, they followed not only their leadership but also their style. Like today, people cared about how they looked in public to show their wealth and importance. Finally, clothing was of much importance because it would tell the importance of a person in ancient Rome. As it states in the article “Clothing in ancient Rome”, “A Roman could tell how important or wealthy a person was from their toga.” (crystalinks). In Rome class was very important and it kept order in society. And to show this importance in a person, they wore the clothing of their class and
In Ancient Rome, it was fairly easy to tell the general age of a person. Most commonly, you could tell whether the person was an adult or a child, which sounds silly today, but considering that people lived drastically shorter lives, it would make more useful. One could tell if a man was a citizen because “[c]utting the first beard was a rite …show more content…
As it says earlier, clothing was the most common way to tell a person’s class, age, and importance in society. But to look good cost people a great amount of difficulty. Such as, many people would wear jewelry filled with lead. But, “[leads] use continued in Rome even after its poisonous effects were recognised” (Powerdressing). Lead is poisonous to people’s skin, even though it was poisonous people still wore it because it was a big part of fashion and people would risk their lives for looking good in public. Another example of the impact fashion made was with the Emperor’s. In fact many of the fashion trends made in Rome were started by the Emperor himself. As it states in the article “Roman Clothing” it says, “Emperors, however, became style setters” (vroma). Since the Emperor's were looked up to by the people, they followed not only their leadership but also their style. Like today, people cared about how they looked in public to show their wealth and importance. Finally, clothing was of much importance because it would tell the importance of a person in ancient Rome. As it states in the article “Clothing in ancient Rome”, “A Roman could tell how important or wealthy a person was from their toga.” (crystalinks). In Rome class was very important and it kept order in society. And to show this importance in a person, they wore the clothing of their class and