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Dressed To Impress

Fashion came and went throughout the Roman Empire much like they do in our lives. Probably these changes were less frequent than they are today but they were made none-the-less. For years it was considered fashionable for men to be clean shaven even though many writers of the times tell us that getting a close shave was a difficult and often dangerous thing indeed. However Emperor Hadrian one of the more military Emperors did not shave and within a short time wearing beards became the height of fashion as the court around him followed his lead and others copied their masters.

Ladies fashion also had ebbs and flows, which could cause for quite dramatic changes in the clothing, hair and jewellery worn by those rich enough to consider high fashion.

Below are two images which show the tremendous differences in fashions between the Eastern and Western end of the Empire, the lady on the left are dressed in a similar fashion to the ladies of the Italian Peninsular, while those on the right are dressed in the fashion of the Palmyran women, both images are set in the 1st and 2nd Centuries AD.



High born Romano-Britain of the 1st to 2nd Century AD

Ladies exhibiting the fashions of the Eastern city of Palmyra (Syria) - 1st to 2nd Century AD