the Ancient Roman chiton and stola | Historical New Year's party dress

My New Year's Eve party dress in its "original" historical context : Ancient Roman fashion! This dress is based on the "stola", a Roman overdress worn by married women. This outfit isn't perfectly accurate, but crinkle gauze isn't period so it was never going to be . . . good enough for hot weather SCA events, though!
One of the best parts of historical costuming is making historical clothing that you can wear in daily life-- it's called historybounding, and it's a great way to get more wear out of your historical fashion. So when I wanted a new dress for a fancy New Year's Eve party outfit, I made one I could wear for Roman period costume and for with Regency dress too! And, of course, a sewing vlog about it. I put together this super simple chiffon dress based on a Roman dress called the stola. It's only got four seams, so it's super quick and easy and would make great beginner historical sewing projects for anyone who wants a DIY NYE dress. The history of clothing and fashion is cyclical, and it's great to have a style that works for multiple periods of fashion history.
If you're wondering what to wear with a dress like this, I got you! To show how versatile this historical dress is, I made a little historical lookbook with three ways to wear it! Firstly, there's my NYE party look, mixing the neoclassical aesthetic with modern dancewear and sparkly party makeup. Next is the Ancient Roman outfit, which isn't historically accurate but is fun, comfy, and great for SCA events or any costume event outdoors in hot weather. The stola is worn over a simple chiton made of a length of repurposed linen, tied with a ribbon belt, and finished off with a Roman style veil called a palla. In Ancient Rome this outfit would be for married women, but since a crinkle silk chiffon dress isn't period correct to begin with, I'm just going for Roman dress DIY vibes. For the Regency look, this dress is a perfect and period appropriate way to get more use out of simple Regency garments like a white cotton dress. The early Regency period of historical fashion was obsessed with neoclassical style. Add the stola as an overdress to a plain dress like my first Regency dress sewing project, and you've got a colorful, distinctive, and stylish outfit that you didn't need to sew from scratch! Happy New Year to you all, and I hope you feel as great in your party dresses as I do in mine.
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[@rosetyler8666]

This shade of green looks incredible on you !! And the outfit is so fun yet elegant

[@Sunny-Jade]

Ahhh, this is probably the easiest thing to follow and I adore it. I've embraced the idea of "historical inspired" rather than completely historically accurate for my outfits, so this is perfect. Also, Hestia is one of my goddesses and the shawl over the hair makes me think of her!

[@nancyholcombe8030]

The history major here hadn't even thought of Ancient Rome when you said four seams! Terrific, more accurate than you know and beautiful on you! Hope you have a spectacular New Year Vi!🎉🎊🎆🎇

[@ravenhill_firelord_1968]

very nice.

[@kaudsiz]

You didn’t mention footwear

[@SnappyDragon]

I wasn't wearing any! I was in my living room, and due to having wide feet I don't have shoes for every era.