Clothing and Togas

[Lucius Galerius Falconius]

During the early 2nd century (Trajan and Hadrian), were togas still in use among senators or did the public disband the unpractical clothing?

What about togas or tunics with one naked shoulder like this:

[Carlton Bach]

By the second century, it is probably best to think of the toga as 'black tie' or similarly traditional, impractical, hghly formal and thus, at times and for certain people, absolutely indispensable clothing. By this time people must have genuinely believed that the toga had always been the homnour badge of the Roman citizen and traditionalist deeply deplored its decline. We even periodically read of efforts to legislate toga-wearing in certain places or on certain occasions. Almost certainly a senator would have to wear one 'at work'.

As to shoulder-free , that does not look like a toga. I can't quite see the old, short toga with novthing underneath (the way Cato wore it) as more than an eccentricity at the time. The imperial toga was a rich, luxurious and expensive garment and would be worn with style. Personally, I distrust and statuary that shows semi-nudity or nakedness on the part of emperors. The Romans had better sense than that. That said, shoulder-free tunics probably continued in use, but as working clothes worn on their own, by poor people, farmers and soldiers, not as part of formal attire.