Did Roman prostitutes wear purple dresses?

I'm still in the beginning stages of researching purple in the Roman empire. One thing to remember is that purple for modern eyes (especially those of us that can see more colors than others) is a wide range from violets (which, yes, I realize is not technically purple but we're talking perception and usage of the masses) to wine. Most people today categorize maroon as a red.

Now true purple is a perfect middle ground between the blue and red spectrum. Technically, purple in general is anything between violet (not including) and true red. This is a modern technical standard.I haven't figured out if violet was considered purple like it is now colloquially in America.

Tyrian purple was a wine to maroon color and was the most highly prized of the purples. During the republic most to all purple was reserved for the higher classes of men. Eventually the women wanted to wear it too. Some did despite the restrictions. One would imagine prostitutes would care less about this so they would be first. But "respectable" married women did so too.

Eventually during the empire days a solid Tyrian purple toga was the only purple reserved for the emperor. Tyrian purple in general was reserved for the upper classes (mostly for cost sake).

This is from reading a bunch of stuff online...much of which quoted primary sources or people that studied primary sources. Working on getting a bunch of books and doing a more in depth research. I'll have a cross checking bibliography when I get into that.

The colour and clothes worn in Ancient Rome directly reflected your social status. Purple on your clothing indicated that you were high up the social ladder:

• toga praetextata, with a purple border, worn by male children and magistrates during official ceremonies
• trabea – toga entirely in purple, worn by statues of deities and emperors

I was once told that a full purple toga was reserved for the emperor, although I can't confirm this at the moment and Wiki says that wealthy women wore it (must depend on the period).

The choice of purple for the upper-class was simply because it was the most expensive.

Iron alum was used as the base fixing agent and it is known that the marine gastropod, Haustellum brandaris, was used as a red dye, due to its purple-red colorant (6,6'-dibromoindigotin); the color of the emperor. The dye was imported from Tyre, Lebanon and was used primarily by wealthy women.1 Cheaper versions were also produced by counterfeiters.

If some of the average prostitutes did actually wear purple it must have been the cheap knock-off. Perhaps similarly to how today some prostitutes may dress up in "cheapy" clothing that tries to imitate the expensive stuff. The vast majority were slaves though so the clothing they wore would have been a decision of the pimp. Maybe they noticed that dressing them as upper class ladies increased sales.

There were also what you could perhaps call 'luxury' upper-class prostitutes in the ancient world. Although they wouldn't have considered themselves as prostitutes, the principle of exchanging services for material gain from respectable individuals was there. These women could have afforded nice purple clothes.

However I couldn't find indication anywhere that it was common for prostitutes to wear purple, so the answer is likely no, but maybe in some cases.

Source: Clothing in ancient Rome

Perhaps some (of the higher end ones) did, but as a general rule this seems exceedingly unlikely.

What is almost certainly meant by a "purple toga" in Roman times is the Toga picta. I can't find any source that even references a female wearing one.

This toga, unlike all others, was not just dyed but embroidered and decorated. It was solid purple, embroidered with gold. Under the Republic, it was worn by generals in their triumphs, and by the Praetor Urbanus when he rode in the chariot of the gods into the circus at the Ludi Apollinares.[19] During the Empire, the toga picta was worn by magistrates giving public gladiatorial games, and by the consuls, as well as by the emperor on special occasions.

Of course there's a reason purple was so special: It was hideously expensive. The dye used, Tyrian Purple is extracted in a laborious and touchy process from tiny glands in a specific species of coastal sea snail.

The process of making the dye was long, difficult and expensive. Thousands of the tiny snails had to be found, their shells cracked, the snail removed. Mountains of empty shells have been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and Tyre. The snails were left to soak, then a tiny gland was removed and the juice extracted and put in a basin, which was placed in the sunlight. There a remarkable transformation took place. In the sunlight the juice turned white, then yellow-green, then green, then violet, then a red which turned darker and darker. The process had to be stopped at exactly the right time to obtain the desired color,

A chemist attempting this process a few years back reportedly required 12,000 snails to get enough dye for a handkerchief.

So if any woman did wear a toga picta, she would have had to have been very well off indeed. Its possible a very high end courtesan, or a favored mistress of an extremely wealthy senator might be able to come up with one. However, there is simply no way a common street prostitute could wear one.