The Romans In LondonLondon Grid for Learning

What you wore depended on your status and job. Administrators, bankers and rich merchants would have worn smart woollen tunics with semi-circular togas draped around their bodies. Craftsmen and labourers would have worn tunics, like long T-shirts, with belts and thicker overtunics and cloaks when cold. The women of Roman London would have worn ankle-length brightly-coloured tunics with shawls wrapped around to keep warm. Children wore similar clothes.

Whatever the style of dress, they needed brooches to hold their clothing together. There were no zips or Velcro and brooches were used like safety pins. Women needed them to hold their tunics together at the shoulder. Some of these brooches came in matching pairs with a chain necklace to hold the brooches together, to stop the tunic from slipping off the shoulder. There must have been a wide choice of brooches and some were decorated with coloured enamels, made by melting coloured powders made from glass. Other brooches were fun novelty brooches and would have been worn at the neck to keep cloaks and shawls together.

There must have been numerous shoe-makers in Roman London as everyone needed leather shoes. They would have their shoes mended but bought new shoes when they wore them out. There were a number of fashionable styles. Some were either like flip-flop sandals but others covered the foot more as a one-piece shoe like a moccasin slipper. There were heavier shoes with thick soles with iron hobnails.