Sumptuary laws have popped up in many cultures throughout history. They are collections of laws meant to divide social classes and they extend from goods a person can buy to the size and placement of graves. One of the most interesting example of sumptuary laws comes in the form of color. Sumptuary laws codified the meaning of precious colors, perceptions often created before the advent of synthetic dyes, and what (or who) they could or couldn't be used for. Victoria Finlay describes this phenomenon in Color; A Natural History of the Palette: "Purple is not the only color in history to have been bound by strict rules-- in England there was a particularly rigorous ruling introduced by King Richard I in 1197 called the Assize of Cloth, effectively confining lower classes to common gray clothing; in China, during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), there was a shade of yellow that could be worn only by emperors; by contrast (an optical as well as apolitical contrast) after the 1949 Maoist revolution all Chinese, whatever their rank, had to wear clothes dyed blue-- I remember a Tibetan nun telling me that when she was a child growing up in Tibet nobody but Monks and nuns was allowed to wear orange or red. But purple is certainly the color that has been most legislated about, over the longest time."

Resources to learn more at USC Libraries:

Color: A Natural History of the Palette

The Brilliant History of Color in Art

The Right to Dress : Sumptuary Laws in a Global Perspective, c. 1200-1800