Early wigs were made of human hair, such as debtors' hair and dead people's hair. This situation only ended in 1822 when Humphrey Ravenscroft invented the technique of making wigs from ponytails. For a long time, most of the raw materials used in this wig came from China, because the mane of European horses is not easy to braid and breaks easily, and the mane needs constant bleaching and cleaning during the production process. Only the mane produced by Chinese horses Only Mao can pass these tests.
Although wigs have been popular in continental Europe for some time because of their aristocratic temperament, they were both a success and a failure for Xiao He. Because it was a product of the royal family, it finally came to an end during the French Revolution. The wig invented by the Bourbons was eventually shattered by the guillotine along with Louis XVI's head.
The European wigs we see today are more related to the United Kingdom, especially the British judicial system. There are no more than two reasons. First, Britain has dominated the world for nearly 200 years and has a huge colonial system. It is known as the empire on which the sun never sets, resulting in its culture having a huge impact on the world. Second, the implementation of a constitutional monarchy in the United Kingdom has enabled the institutional preservation of feudal antiques such as wigs. How did British wigs flow from France? This begins with the British bourgeois revolution, the beginning of modern world history. We know that the bourgeois revolution broke out in England in the mid-17th century, and the British prince at that time, later Charles II, was forced to take refuge in France. Later, after his successful restoration, he brought wig fashion back to England. The diary of Pepys, an Englishman in the 17th century, truly records the history of the popularity of wigs in Britain. 1663 165438 On October 2, Pepys wrote: "It's still a little sad to say goodbye to my hair, but when it's all over I'm going to wear a wig." (He cut off my hair, my My heart is a little separated from it at present; but it is all over, and my dream continues)
The wig has an anecdote in British political history. It is said that Britain began to enter the stage of party politics after the Glorious Revolution. At that time, there were two major political parties, the Whigs and the Tories. In general, the Whigs were radical and the Tories conservative. The two sides fought until later. Whether or not to wear a wig has also become a reflection of political attitudes. Needless to say, those who wear wigs must be Conservatives, and those who do not wear wigs must be Whigs. This is in sharp contrast to the attitude of the revolutionary party and the royalist party towards braids when the Qing Dynasty fell. Therefore, the then novelist Jonathan Swift satirized this situation with a story about the domestic politics of Lilliput in his masterpiece "Gulliver's Travels": "More than 70 months Since ancient times, there have been two major political parties in the empire, one called Tramac III and the other called Tramac III. Because one party has a higher heel and the other has a lower heel, it is divided into two factions according to the height of the heel. "
Generally speaking, there are two types of European wigs. One is long hair worn in a shawl, an original product invented by Louis XIII. The English word is periwig, which is generally used for grand events and ceremonial occasions. For example, members of the House of Lords wear their hair long at the opening of the British Parliament. One is a short wig that only covers the top of the head, usually worn in court. English is generally a wig. We are generally more familiar with the latter.
The wigs used by the judiciary are different from ordinary wigs, especially because they are expensive. Generally, a judge's wig costs more than 1,500, and the most common wig costs no less than 300.
The price of shawls, curls and wigs at E Ravenscroft, London's oldest judicial clothing store in the UK, is as high as more than $4,000.
The biggest feature of judicial wigs is that they are proud of their old age. The older the wig, the senior and older the wearer. Because in the judicial field, seniority and age are assets. Therefore, the older the wig is, the more likely it is to be favored by legal professionals. There is a lawyer family who owns a 94-year-old antique that has been passed down for four generations. It can be called a family heirloom.
While wigs are still widely used in the British legal profession, their status is in jeopardy. As early as the early days of the founding of the United States, then-President Thomas Jefferson was quite dissatisfied with the feudal remnants of wigs. He once said, "A British judge who takes off his wig is like a mouse peeking out from under cotton wool." (For God's sake, put that kind of thing that makes British judgments look like mice in a bundle. Throw away the weird wig that pees on the oak tree) So although the United States and the United Kingdom both belong to the maritime law system, they abolished the wig wearing system in the judicial field at the beginning of their founding to draw a clear line.
In wig-wearing Britain, the wig system is also in decline. As early as 1840, the British judiciary abolished shoulder-length wigs and replaced them with short, simple wigs. In 1992, the practice of wearing wigs for juvenile court judicial officers was abolished. This year, the British Judicial Council announced on July 12 that in the future, judges and lawyers will not need to wear wigs when sitting in civil courts, but they will generally still have to wear wigs in criminal courts.
The main reason why the British wig system has reached this point is that the price of wigs is too high. If wigs were not worn, the UK could save judges and registered lawyers ￡600,000 in "costume expenses" every year. In addition, being unfashionable is also a major reason for the decline of wigs. A 2003 poll showed that nearly 70% of Britons believed that the wig wearing system should be abolished in the UK.
Just like the sun never set on the empire in the past, perhaps in the near future, this ancient charm of the British Empire will finally officially enter history.