The implication of these ancient laws was that upper class Assyrian women were required to veil, but lower class women, including slaves and prostitutes, could not. Indeed, the penalties for "inappropriate" veiling were severe, and included punishments such as cutting off the ears (El Guindi, 15).

In Mamluk Egypt (1250-1517), veiling was an openly recognized sign of upper class prestige (El Guindi, 104):

During this period in urban centers, veiling the face and covering the body in public was considered a mark of a woman's high rank, respectability and inaccessibility. Among a number of honorific titles to address women two are of special interest, because they explicitly use terms of dress, and specifically the veil: al-satr al-rafi' (aloof protection) and al-hijab al-mani' (inaccessible partition) [...] Both titles use metaphorical dress vocabulary, satr and hijab, to descried the valued privacy attached by the culture to women and the family. Only servants and slaves did not, indeed were not allowed to, cover the face.

Such prohibitions against veiling exist today among some cultures, such as among the Tuareg of northern Africa. Neither Tuareg women nor slaves are permitted to veil (El Guindi, 124).

The Bible has its sumptuary laws, too. In Corinthians I 11: 3-7, Christ laid the law for the appropriate attire of his pious subjects. Interestingly, veiling was prescribed for women but proscribed for men:

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not uncovered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

In Italy, where women veiled for centuries, veiling posed a unique problem. The luxury of anonymity, which the veil afforded, allowed a lower class person the opportunity for upper class imitation (Hunt, 420):

While sumptuary laws were concerned to secure a stable connection between appearance and entitlement, the social conditions in which it did so were every day making the achievement of its goals ever more unrealizable. The history of women's veils attests to the instability of external appearance. On the one hand, the veil exhibits piety and modesty, but, on the other hand, it signifies allure by facilitating concealment of identity. In Italy there were tensions between clerical and secular sumptuary activity over the wearing of veils. While the Church favoured head covering as symbolizing religious piety and sexual modesty, the secular authorities were concerned that veils could also encourage conspicuous consumption. In addition, veils allowed women a problematic anonymity. In Sienna officials were empowered to demand of a veiled women the name of her father or husband.

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