Modern woman model the belted Roman tunica with palla (mantle) for outdoor wear.

Romans and the Tunic

For many centuries, in both the East and West, women and men have worn loose flowing robes. Elaborate layers of cloth indicated the rank or wealth of an individual. Sometimes to give shape to robes, the clothes were tied with a girdle or a sash. Later extra shaping was introduced by the use of a brooch or a pin.

In Rome, breasts were de-emphasized. Men and women alike wore the tunic (tunica), though women's tunics were fuller and longer, usually extending to the feet. The Roman women adopted the apodesme as worn by the Greeks to support their breasts, but called it the strophium or mamillare. Young women wore the fascia, a band or fillet of cloth, worn over the breast to restrict the growth of their breasts whilst the mamillare was used to conceal large breasts.

Prior to the 1400's, a woman did not support their breasts unless she chose to bind them with cloth, though this was the exception. An edict of Strasbourg dated 1370 states, "No woman will support the bust by the disposition of a blouse or by tightened dress." Under Charles VII the bust is dressed in a triangular drape and by a tight gauze. The corset was worn very tightly and damage was caused to the wearer. Fashion, as we usually use the term in the sense of meaning 'trendy' or 'stylish' did not really emerge until the 1400's with the rise of a wealthier middle class. To wear certain clothes communicated status if not occupation.

What followed was medieval dress flattening breasts.