Fashion in early modern Europe was not just a matter of personal choice or expression—it was subject to strict regulation. In cities like 16th-century Genoa, a set of laws known as sumptuary laws meticulously dictated the clothing choices of various social groups, including the precise materials, colors, and embellishments they were allowed to wear. These laws were designed to curb excess and luxury consumption and to regulate the social and moral behavior associated with wealth and status. According to art history scholar Ana Cristina Howie, these laws played a significant role in shaping gender roles, as they disproportionately restricted women’s fashion choices, reflecting the era’s views on women as morally weaker and more susceptible to temptation.
Howie’s research on these laws provides a fascinating glimpse into the ways fashion and social hierarchy intersected during the early modern period. Her article, Sumptuary Laws, Gender, and Public Dressing in Early Modern Genoa, published in The Historical Journal in 2023, explores how these regulations in Genoa not only governed material consumption but also worked to reinforce societal notions of gender and class, especially through the lens of clothing.
In her work, Howie emphasizes that the city’s sumptuary laws were not just about limiting the display of wealth, but were also deeply intertwined with cultural perceptions of gender. Unlike in other European cities, which had sumptuary laws that took into account class, birthplace, and other categories, Genoa’s laws were more focused on a binary division between men and women. This division made Genoa a unique case study for understanding how dress codes helped shape and define gender roles in early modern European society. The laws were extensive, regulating everything from the types of fabrics one could wear, to the exact shades of colors, and even the number of buttons that could adorn a garment.
Take, for example, the detailed regulations for silk fabrics. Howie notes that while silk was permitted, it could only come in a select number of colors—black, white, yellow, green, dark blue, red, purple, or tawny brown. Wool, a more common fabric, had fewer restrictions, but it still had to adhere to specific color guidelines. Velvet, a luxurious fabric, was allowed, but only without any patterns, further underscoring the precise nature of these regulations. This level of detail can be difficult to comprehend, especially when considering how contemporary fashion is often characterized by its wide range of colors, textures, and styles.
Through her study of a ledger of sumptuary law denouncements from 1598, Howie offers a window into how these laws were enforced. Over 200 entries detail individuals who transgressed the rules, many of whom were from Genoa’s elite noble class. One notable entry describes the daughter of a noblewoman who was stopped in Piazza San Lorenzo for wearing a yellow and mulberry silk jacket, known as an ungaresca. Another entry describes a nobleman caught in Piazza di Ponticello wearing an embroidered taffeta cassock and breeches. These examples highlight how sumptuary laws were enforced through surveillance in public spaces, a kind of early “fashion policing” that sought to curb ostentatious displays of wealth.
The primary aim of these laws was to limit the visible consumption of luxury items, but Howie points out that women were more heavily regulated than men. For women, the laws were not only more detailed but also more numerous, underscoring a cultural belief that women, in their perceived moral weakness, needed to be controlled more tightly. The laws reflected the widespread misogynistic belief that women were more susceptible to luxuria (luxury or excess) and, by extension, to moral decay. Howie argues that these laws reveal the gendered nature of the social order, with women being viewed as inherently more prone to indulgence in material excess, which was deemed a vice.
In comparison, the regulations governing men’s fashion were far simpler and more permissive. The regulations for men’s attire were relatively short, covering fewer aspects of dress and placing fewer constraints on materials and colors. Men could wear a broader range of fabrics and were less subject to detailed rules about adornments like jewelry. This disparity in how men and women were regulated speaks volumes about the ways in which social and gender hierarchies were reinforced through dress.
The sumptuary laws were not only a tool of moral policing but also of social control. Howie points out that the people responsible for enforcing these laws were often the same nobles who were flouting them. She reveals that the group responsible for regulating luxury consumption in Genoa was made up of a small pool of about 1,000 ruling nobles. These individuals, who held power over others’ clothing choices, were themselves consuming the very luxury items they sought to control. Howie’s discovery that many of these nobles maintained inventories showing their own indulgence in luxury items demonstrates the hypocrisy embedded in these laws.
Despite the strict enforcement of fashion rules, Howie’s research also highlights the ways in which Genoese women maneuvered within these constraints to express themselves. Through portraiture and material culture, women found subtle ways to negotiate their place in a society that heavily restricted their public expression. For many women, fashion was one of the few means of self-expression available to them, and they used it creatively to assert their individuality and social status, even within the confines of the law.
In her book, which will expand on these ideas, Howie plans to explore how women in Genoa and other parts of early modern Europe navigated the complex world of fashion, portraiture, and material culture. She aims to tell a larger story of how women expressed themselves in a society that often limited their public roles. For Howie, the sumptuary laws serve as a foundation for understanding this larger narrative, providing a unique perspective on how fashion rules both shaped and were shaped by women’s social worlds.
While the specific, state-mandated regulations on fashion may no longer be in place today, Howie notes that fashion still plays a significant role in contemporary society, albeit in less overt ways. In modern Western society, especially in corporate environments, the way people dress still carries strong social meaning. For instance, Howie points out that in many professional settings, the perceived value of accessories, such as handbags or watches, can signal one’s social and professional rank. In the corporate world, for example, a person may be penalized for wearing a handbag that is more expensive than that of their superior, as it could be seen as a violation of the expected social hierarchy. These forms of social policing, although more subtle, still function to regulate behavior through fashion choices, much like the sumptuary laws of early modern Genoa.
More information: Ana Howie, Sumptuary Laws, Gender, and Public Dressing in Early Modern Genoa, The Historical Journal (2024). DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X2400030X