Stola Stola The stola was the traditional garment of Roman women, corresponding to the toga, that was worn by men. The stola was usually woollen. Originally, women wore togas as well, but after the 2nd century BC, the toga was worn exclusively by men, and women were expected to wear the stola. At that point, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to wear a toga; wearing the male garment was associated with prostitution and adultery. The stola was a staple of fashion in ancient Rome spanning from the early Roman Republic through the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire into the
Clothing in ancient Rome to it as a mark of their prestige, but eventually abandoned it for the more comfortable and practical pallium. Besides tunics, married citizen women wore a simple garment known as a stola (pl. stolae) which was associated with traditional Roman female virtues, especially modesty. In the early Roman Republic, the "stola" was reserved to patrician women. Shortly before the Second Punic War, the right to wear it was extended to plebeian matrons, and to freedwomen who had acquired the status of matron through marriage to a citizen. Stolae typically comprised two rectangular segments of cloth joined at the side by