Stola This created the illusion of layers, a symbol of wealth and status. Stolas were made in a variety of colors including red, yellow, and blue. Decorations were also added to the neckline and hem. For common women, these would be a simple band of color or pattern. For wealthier women, more details and embellishments were used. A wide ornamental border called an instita was often used around the neckline and hem as a display of wealth. Stola The stola was the traditional garment of Roman women, corresponding to the toga, that was worn by men. The stola was usually woollen.
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