Preindustrial cities law-coded minority dress to mark them as outcastes

Evidence

The clothing of outcaste groups (including ethnic and religious minorities, members of certain occupations and persons with certain diseases) was often regulated by law. Sjoberg tells us that the Parsi minority in the Persian city of Y ezd were forced, until the 1880s, “to twist their turbans instead of folding them, [were] denied various colors, and [were] prohibited rings, urn brellas and other items” ( 1960:134 ). Their situation was typical. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 242

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• ADDENDUM: Another instance of legally imposed dress distinctiveness for subordinated groups — structurally parallel to the sumptuary law material in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’, extending that pattern to imposed rather than chosen dress.

Related

• Laws once mandated distinctive dress for outcaste minorities (similarity 0.95)