Florence in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries used detailed sumptuary laws to restrain luxury fashion. Officials monitored clothing elements such as fur, shoes, jewelry, and buttons, and even regulated how prostitutes dressed in public. Dante’s work includes a complaint about shameless Florentine women showing cleavage. Legislation began in 1281 and appeared frequently as new fashions emerged. Although laws affected both men and women, they focused mainly on women’s clothing, with prosecutors informally called “Officials of Women.” Rules applied to married women and maidens and covered what could be worn both outside and inside homes, including restrictions on colors, fabrics, animal fur, and the number of rings. Buttons were limited by type and quantity, including prohibitions on enameled or glazed buttons on garments decorated with pearls or precious stones.
"No woman, or female or girl, should dare to use in the city of Florence, at home or outside the home, any type of button, enameled or glazed, to any garment, on which there is any decoration with pearls or precious stones. - Legge suntuaria fatta dal comune di Firenze l'anno 1355 e volgarizzata nel 1356, da Ser Andr"
"The first sumptuary laws enacted in Florence with the official purpose of restraining excessive luxury date from 1281. While the laws affected both men and women, they were mostly concerned with women's clothes, as most of the laws were related to what women could wear. In fact, the officials charged with prosecuting offenders were informally known as the Ufficiali delle Donne, or "Officials of Women"."
"Sumptuary laws affected all women, either married or maidens, and applied to what they could use, not only outside, but also inside their homes. They could be extremely detailed regarding what could or could not be worn. Common restrictions applied to certain colors, such as golden or silver dresses, to certain types of fabric or animal fur, even up to the number of rings that a woman was allowed to wear in each hand."
"Medieval Florence tried to regulate luxury fashion with astonishingly detailed laws. Officials monitored everything from buttons and jewellery to fur, shoes, and even how prostitutes dressed in public. In a famous verse of Dante's Divine Comedy, a character stuck in Purgatory complains to Dante about the "sfacciate donne fiorentine" (shameless Florentine women) who would walk around with cleavage that showed their breasts."
Read at Medievalists.net
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