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
Linen as "li-no" (Greek: λίνον, "linon"), and the female linen workers are cataloged as "li-ne-ya" (λίνεια, "lineia"). The Phoenicians, who, with their merchant fleet, opened up new channels of commerce to the peoples of the Mediterranean, and developed the tin mines of Cornwall, introduced flax growing and the making of linen into Ireland before the common era. It is not until the twelfth century that we can find records of a definite attempt to systematize flax production. When the Edict of Nantes was revoked, in 1685, many of the Huguenots who fled France settled in the British Isles, and amongst them