Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
The tunic was the common masculine garment of Roman civilization. It was worn by citizens and non-citizens alike; citizens, though, would wear it under the toga, especially at formal occasions. The presence or lack of stripes, as well as the width and the ornamentation, would indicate the wearer's status in Roman society. The tunic is the base garment of the classical wardrobe: the stola was worn over a woman's tunic, the toga over a man's, and a family of later garments, habit, cowl, cassock and robe among them, descends from its simple T-shaped idea.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tunic). 12/24/04 |
The tunic is close to the minimum a sewn garment can be: two lengths of cloth joined at the shoulders and sides, openings for head and arms, a belt to shape it. That simplicity is why it appears independently in culture after culture and why it lasted so long in Rome, worn long or short, sleeved or sleeveless, in linen for summer and wool for winter, plain for work and striped for rank. Senators' and equestrians' tunics carried their order's stripes as a permanent badge, an early example of clothing doing the work of an identity card.
Because the tunic was universal, it became the root garment of the Western wardrobe. Medieval dress is the tunic lengthened, layered and renamed; religious habits, cassocks and cowls keep its shape in deliberate archaism; the modern T-shirt is its knitted descendant, and the contemporary women's tunic top, a long, loose top worn over trousers or leggings, uses the name for the same silhouette the Romans belted. Few garments can show an unbroken line from antiquity to the high street; the tunic can.
For costume and re-enactment, the checks are the definition's own: breadth of cloth and stripe for status, length to the knee for a man's working tunic, longer for formal wear, belted at the waist, with the overfold of cloth above the belt adjusted for the activity. Worn under a toga, the tunic's neckline and sleeves are what show at the edges, which is where period images concentrate their detail.
Modern tunics keep the name honest: a long top, usually between mid-thigh and knee, with the same straight body and simple neckline, sold for wearing over leggings, trousers or swimwear. Sellers use the word because the silhouette really is the Roman one with modern fabrics and prints. The continuity is the point of the definition: tunic names a construction and a length before it names any period, fabric or fashion, which is why the word has survived every change of material from Roman wool and linen to modern cotton jersey and silk.
Everyone. The tunic was the common garment of Roman civilization, worn by citizens and non-citizens alike. Citizens wore it under the toga at formal occasions; on its own, belted, it was everyday and working dress.
By its stripes, width and ornamentation. The presence or absence of stripes, their width and the decoration of the garment indicated the wearer's status in Roman society, a code readable at a glance in a culture where dress announced rank.
The tunic is the underlayer of both formal outfits. A citizen wore the toga over his tunic; a woman wore the stola over hers, the tunica intima. The tunic alone is the base garment; the toga and stola are the civic garments added on top.