A New Exhibition Reveals How Hot Pink Togas and Floral Perfumes Conveyed Power in the Roman Empire

Flaunting chic styles and expensive clothing to stand out from the crowd is hardly a modern phenomenon. Ancient Romans took the relationship between appearance and influence exceedingly seriously, showing off fine vestments, rare dyes and elaborate hairstyles as marks of status. This timeless social dynamic is the central theme of “The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire,” a new exhibition at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen.

Featuring 171 objects, the exhibition showcases the Glyptotek’s extensive collection of Roman sculptures, as well as loans from international museums and sensory experiences that reanimate ancient perfumes and gossip for modern audiences. It is the largest special exhibition on antiquity in the museum’s history. One of the show’s highlights is a large sculpture of the Roman emperor Tiberius, carved in the first century C.E.

It depicts a muscular figure with a garment draped over his bottom half. Though the sculpture today appears in pale white marble, polychromatic analysis reveals that Tiberius’ garment was originally painted hot pink, a color associated in his time with wealth and conviction. The exhibition digitally reconstructs how the statue might have originally appeared.

Pinks and purples, known in Latin as “purpura” and made from the glands of Mediterranean sea snails, were among the rarest. To extract the coveted pigment known as Tyrian purple, ancient Romans boiled snails in lead vats for days at a time. For ancient Romans, these rarified tastes were subject to change.

Romans also sourced their perfumes from natural materials. For the exhibition, the Glyptotek partnered with Karmameju, a Danish skincare company, to create scents inspired by ancient recipes. Four interactive “scent stations” invite visitors to smell the floral notes worn by Roman men on special occasions and the “stronger, more pungent perfumes” popular among women, according to the statement.

A second sensory experience features 12 listening posts where visitors can “eavesdrop” on ancient Roman writers, whose words are read by modern-day speakers. In the snippets, the men gossip about how their powerful contemporaries’ fashion choices reflect on their abilities to lead. The Glyptotek also acquired several high-profile loans for the exhibition, including three rare tunics which have never before left the British Museum and a sculpture of Emperor Septimius Severus wearing lionskin boots, from Turkey’s Burdur Archaeological Museum.