Toga Party! - How to Wrap a Toga

The Roman toga has fascinating history, not the least of which is its history as party garb. Togas in ancient Rome were a wool cloth about twenty feet long which was wrapped around the body in a specific way. A linen tunic was worn under the toga. Originally, both men and women of all social classes wore togas, but with time the garment came to represent wealth and high status.

During the second century BC, the toga evolved into a garment exclusively for men. Wearing it became a symbol of manhood and around the age of fourteen boys wore one for the first time during a special coming of age ceremony. Only Roman citizens were allowed to wear togas and then only if they were civilians. Soldiers wore a more practical cloak. Civilians were often called "toga wearers" and the toga became an emblem of peacetime.

The standard toga was white, but borders were sometimes used to denote the wearer's social status. A toga with a purple border could mean one of several things and was worn by some retired Roman officials. A dark toga meant the wearer was in mourning. A purple toga with golden embroidery was worn by victorious generals on state occasions.

Today togas are worn by both men and women for the fun of it. By some accounts, the first college toga party was held at Pomona, California in 1953, but the students were not the first with the idea. According to Harry Mount, author of Carpe Diem: Put a little Latin in your life, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt held a White House toga party in the 1930s to tease people who had called her husband Caesar.

Toga parties became popular on college campuses during the late 1950s and on into the 1960s. In 1978, John Belushi and the toga party scene from the movie Animal House made the custom even more popular.

How to Make and Wrap a Toga

A toga costume can be made easily. Many people like to use a white sheet for their toga, but buying fabric by the yard is usually cheaper than buying a sheet. Using yardage rather than a sheet also allows you to have a longer length of fabric to work with. Plus, you can choose the thickness you would like.

Broadcloth is an inexpensive toga material and it comes in different weights. Choose the thickness you would like your costume to be. While you could possibly get by with two yards of 54"-60" wide fabric, three yards will allow you more fabric to securely wrap around your body.

You can hem or zig-zag stitch the edge of the fabric to prevent it from raveling if you like. This really isn't necessary unless you plan on wearing the toga frequently. Since wrapped togas do not provide that much secure coverage for your body, make plans to wear something underneath that you will feel comfortable in. Guys generally wear shorts or shorts and a t-shirt and women can wear shorts and a t-shirt or a bathing suit.

There are lots of creative ways to wrap a party toga. Here's one way: fold the length of the fabric in half. Place one end of the doubled fabric or sheet on the left side of the body, leaving a fabric corner sticking out at the top. Wrap it once around your chest, under the arms. Secure with safety pins. Wrap it around again and bring the end up over your shoulder and tie it to the other end. Secure where needed with safety pins.

If you would rather have a sewn, tunic-like toga, McCall's pattern company makes a nice, easy-to- sew version. Their pattern number M2895 provides patterns to make Roman costumes, royal costumes, cave people costumes and more.

Whether you choose the wrap version or the sewn version you will enjoy your stylish Roman costume. A fun and sexy toga costume is sure to be a hit at costume parties and for Halloween.