Clothing and Status: Much of Roman clothing was designed to reveal the social status of its wearer, particularly for freeborn men. A Roman citizen wore a toga, an equestrian or senator had stripes on his tunic. A married woman wore a stola. Coloured shoes and broad stripes on his tunic identify a senator. The emperor wore a laurel wreath on his head and had special robes, while a general wore a uniform and cloak. Lower classes had hitched-up tunics. The two lowest social classes in Rome (freedpeople and slaves) did not have distinctive clothing that clearly indicated their status.

Production and Cleaning of Garments: Typically, Roman garments were made of wool. In the early Republic, women spun the fleece into thread and wove the cloth in the home, and doubtless, many women of the less wealthy classes continued this practice throughout the history of Rome. By the late Republic, however, upper-class Roman women did not spin and weave themselves. Instead, slaves did the work within the household or cloth was purchased commercially, and well to do Romans could also buy cloth made of linen, cotton, or silk. There were many businesses associated with textiles besides spinning and weaving, including operations such as dyeing (fibers were usually dyed before being spun into thread), processing, and cleaning. Garments were cleaned by fullers (fullones) using chemicals such as sulfur and especially human urine.

Undergarments: We do not know a great deal about Roman underclothes, but there is evidence that both men and women wore a simple, wrapped loincloth (subligar or subligaculum, meaning "little binding underneath") at least some of the time; male laborers wore the subligar when working, but upper-class men may have worn it only when exercising. Women also sometimes wore a band of cloth or leather to support the breasts (strophium or mamillare).

Footwear: Sandals (soleae, sandalia) with open toes were the proper footwear for wearing indoors. There were many different designs, from the practical to elegant. Shoes (calcei), which encased the foot and covered the toes, were considered appropriate for outdoors and were always worn with the toga; when visiting, upper-class Romans removed their shoes at the door and slipped on the sandals that had been carried by their slaves. There were many different styles of shoes, and some leather versions have survived. There were no dramatic gender differences in Roman footwear (unlike the high heels worn by women today), though upper-class males (equestrians, patricians, and senators) wore distinctive shoes that marked their status; the patrician shoes, for example, were red.

The basic item of male dress was the tunic, made of two pieces of undyed wool sewn together at the sides and shoulders and belted in such a way that the garment just covered the knees. Openings for the arms were left at the top of the garment, creating an effect of short sleeves when the tunic was belted; since tunics were usually not cut in a T-shape, this left extra material to drape under the arm. Men of the equestrian class were entitled to wear a tunic with narrow stripes, in the colour the Romans called purple, extending from shoulder to hem, while broad stripes distinguished the tunics of men of the senatorial class. Working men and slaves wore the same type of tunic, usually made of a coarser, darker wool, and they frequently hitched the tunic higher over their belts for freer movement. Sometimes their tunics also left one shoulder uncovered. Slaves were not inevitably dressed in poor clothing.

The toga was the national garment of Rome. Only male citizens were allowed to wear the toga. It was made of a large woolen cloth cut with both straight and rounded edges; it was not sewn or pinned but rather draped carefully over the body on top of the tunic. Over time, the size and manner of draping the toga became more elaborate. The cloth was folded lengthwise and partly pleated at the fold, which was then draped over the left side of the body, over the left shoulder, under the right arm, and back up over the left arm and shoulder. It was held in place partly by the weight of the material and partly by keeping the left arm pressed against the body. The large overfold in the front of the body was called a sinus, and part of the material under this was pulled up and draped over the sinus to form the umbo. The back of the toga was pulled over the head for religious ceremonies. It was difficult to put the toga on properly by oneself, and prominent Romans had slaves who were specially trained to perform this function. Togas were costly, heavy, and cumbersome to wear; the wearer looked dignified and stately but would have found it difficult to do anything very active. Citizens had to wear togas for all public occasions.

The color of the toga was significant, marking differences in age and status:

• toga virilis also called toga pura: unadorned toga in the off-white color of the undyed wool that was worn by adult male citizens
• toga praetexta: off-white toga with a broad purple border. This toga was worn by curule magistrates and also upper class boys, who laid aside the bordered toga during their coming-of-age ceremony (when they were 14-16) and ceremonially donned the toga virilis
• toga pulla: toga made of dark-coloured wool worn during periods of mourning
• toga candida: artificially whitened toga worn by candidates for political office
• toga picta: purple toga embroidered with gold thread worn by a victorious general during a triumphal parade and later adopted by emperors for state occasions

Although women had apparently worn togas in the early years of Rome, by the middle of the Republican era the only women who wore togas were common prostitutes. Thus the toga was a mark of honor for Roman men, but for women it had become a sign of disgrace.

Jewelry: Propriety demanded that adult male citizens wear only one item of jewelry, a personalized signet ring that was used to make an impression in sealing wax in order to authorize documents. Originally made of iron, these signet rings later came to be made of gold. Literary evidence indicates that some Roman men ignored propriety and wore numerous rings as well as brooches to pin their Greek-style cloaks. Before the age of manhood, Roman boys wore a bulla, a large round locket on a chain containing protective amulets, usually phallic symbols.

Hairstyles: During the middle and late Republic and into the early Empire, Roman men wore their hair short and were clean shaven, even though the process of shaving was uncomfortable and frequently resulted in cuts and scratches. The emperor Hadrian, however, adopted a short beard, and after his reign (117-138 CE) beards became quite common.