plz help me out with this
Sumptuary laws were regulations enacted in various societies to control and restrict personal expenditures on clothing and other goods, often based on social class or status. These laws dictated what individuals could wear, influencing the choice of costumes by enforcing strict guidelines on fabrics, colors, and styles that were permissible for different social ranks. As a result, sumptuary laws reinforced social hierarchies and contributed to the visibility of class distinctions in clothing, limiting the expression of individual identity through fashion.
Sumptuary law is the law of property. examples are wealth, fine jewelry and fine cloth.
Sumptuary laws (from the Latin sumtuariae leges) are laws which dictated, amongst other things, what color and type of clothing individuals were allowed to own and wear. This was an easy way to identify rank and privilege. They were usually used for social discrimination (very often in the sense of preventing non-aristocrats from imitating the appearance of aristocrats, sometimes also to specially mark out disfavored groups).
In France between 1273 and 1789, laws were made for the smaller cast people in France.These laws were called 'SUMPTUARY LAWS'.these laws mainly said that only the royalty could wear expensive stuff like silk, velvet, fur etc,. the smaller people could not wear expensive stuff, consume certain food and beverages like alcohol , and play games like hunting. :)
Sumptuary laws were a way to regulate social hierarchies by restricting certain clothing to specific classes. They were also used to control extravagance, prevent social mobility, and reinforce distinctions between social classes.
Sumtuary laws also governed clothing and household goods.
By the middle of the 17th century, most of them had gone of out of fashion. Although you could argue the point that the Smoking ban and the drinking of Alcohol in public places is a Sumptuary Law.
Massachusetts and Connecticut passed sumptuary laws to regulate personal behavior and maintain social order, reflecting their Puritan values. These laws aimed to curb excessive spending on luxury items, promote modesty, and reinforce a sense of communal identity. By restricting certain behaviors and appearances, the colonies sought to uphold moral standards and discourage the influences of a more extravagant lifestyle. Ultimately, these laws were part of broader efforts to shape society according to their religious and cultural ideals.
A woman's dress said a lot about her, as it told what her social position was. Rich people dressed better than poor, of course, but there were laws, called sumptuary laws, that restricted people of certain classes from wearing certain specific kinds of clothes, so a person who was merely rich could easily be distinguished from a person who was of a noble family. Sometimes the sumptuary laws also required prostitutes to wear distinguishing clothes, such as a red dress or a striped hood. And, of course, nuns wore distinctive clothing. There are links below.
In the Middle Ages, there were sumptuary laws, so the nobility could be distinguished from the merely wealthy middle class.
Montaigne's brief essay "On sumptuary laws" criticized 16th-century French laws, beginning, "The way by which our laws attempt to regulate idle and vain expenses in meat and clothes, seems to be quite contrary to the end designed... For to enact that none but princes shall eat turbot, shall wear velvet or gold lace, and interdict these things to the people, what is it but to bring them into a greater esteem, and to set every one more agog to eat and wear them?" He also cites Plato and Zaleucus. In 1629 and 1633, Louis XIII of France issued edicts regulating "Superfluity of Dress" that prohibited anyone but princes and the nobility from wearing gold embroidery or caps, shirts, collars and cuffs embroidered with metallic threads or lace,[32] and puffs, slashes, and bunches of ribbon were severely restricted. As with other such laws, these were widely disregarded and laxly enforced. A series of popular engravings by Abraham Bosse depicts the supposed effects of this law
Although sumptuary laws were enacted a number of times throughout history, you are probably referring either to King Edward III of England, or King Louis XIII of France, both of whom issued decrees about who could wear what trims and materials, supposedly to curtail foreign trade in such items. Under these laws, most personal decoration was considered an abomination.