How to Wear a Toga

Toga parties are very popular these days, especially for adults and college students. Make your next party a toga party and enjoy the breezy outfits. Buy some good wine and grapes and get ready to do as the Romans do.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sandals
• Laurel Wreath
• Packet Safety Pins
• 3-4 yards materials

1. Throw away that sheet. It won't fit, and cabbage roses won't look all that authentic anyway.

2. Buy 3 to 4 yards of drapey material. Cotton, muslin or poplin will work best.

3. Wear whatever you want on top; for example, a T-shirt, a bathing suit top or a sleeveless tank is fine.

4. Holding the length horizontally, wrap the material around your waist 1.5 times.

5. Pin it or tie it.

6. Throw the rest of the fabric over either shoulder.

7. Bring fabric back to your waist and tuck it into waistband. You can also tie it with a similarly colored sash, or pin it again.

8. Adjust the material to cover more of what you want to cover.

Tips & Warnings

• Sandals are authentic footwear to complete your toga outfit.
• History reveals that the Romans (and Greeks, for that matter) didn't go bare-shouldered at all; they wore a tunic-like garment beneath the toga.
• Experiment with different materials, if you like. Upper arm bangles and/or laurel wreaths can also be nice additions to your costume.
• Experiment with your fasteners. You don't want to lose your toga in the middle of your speech, do you?

[alexew]

on 9/20/2009 Who doesn't love a good toga party?

on 3/12/2006 Togas were about five feet wide and eighteen feet long. They were not directly wrapped around the torso, with one end thrown over the shoulder. The proper procedure is this: dangle one end from the left shoulder in front all the way down to your left foot. Take the main part of the toga across your back and down to your waist on the right side, then loosely upward across the front to the left shoulder again; throw the remaining six feet over your left shoulder so it hangs behind.

on 11/29/2005 At a National Junior Classical League convention a couple of years ago, I decided to pin the top hem of my chiton (Greek, I know) to my strapless undergarments to avoid having to wear an camisole under it. This was a bad idea; due to the heavy nature of the fabric it almost fell down during our photo shoot and pulled down everything else that I was wearing with it.

Also, if you do have to wear a sheet, make sure it's not fitted. While you may find your "sinus" to be incredibly useful for carrying around pens, floppy disks, and back issues of TV guide, it's certainly not genuine or comfortable to walk around wrapped in elastic.