But the dappata - a 5ft-long,3ft-wide, loose veil made of translucent silk - is a very happy Pakistani compromise between Muslim modesty and sexy femininity.
The bride's veil, made of layers of ivory silk-tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers, was also embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework and was held in place by the Cartier Halo tiara, which was lent to the duchess by the Queen.
Diaphragms were "womb veils," made of rubber or a cloth membrane and advertised as "the wife's protector".
It was the type species of subsection Exannulati in section Micacei of the genus Coprinus, a grouping of related taxa with veils made of sphaerocysts (round swollen cells usually formed in clusters) exclusively or with thin-filamentous connective hyphae intermixed.
A hag in a pink veil makes a spooky Helen of Troy, and a skeleton stands in for Alexander the Great.
Muslims make up 3.2% of Canada's population and niqabis, women who wear the face veil, make up less than 1% of the 1.05 million Muslims in Canada.
Some wearers of the veil make a strictly personal choice to don it.
Cash registers are set to ring for hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions and the countless purveyors of "Wills-and-Kate" thimbles, cupcakes, Pez dispensers, coasters, tea towels, barf bags, Halloween masks and commemorative "I Dough" pizzas from fast-food chain Papa John's, with toppings artfully arranged in a portrait of the happy couple (the bride's veil is made of mushrooms).
As someone who attended Hebrew school at a Conservative synagogue in Westchester County during the late 1970s and early '80s, I couldn't help wondering what Ms. Veil would have made of the Holocaust education provided for Jewish children then.
The veil weights are made of genuine mother of pearl and Swarovski crystals with two small hidden magnets.
