The curly hair of foreigners for more than a decade.

As early as in ancient Egypt, men in ancient Egypt had to shave their heads and wear wigs. Later, the ancient Romans were also influenced by the Egyptians and were keen on wearing wigs. But the most impressive thing is the wig popular in modern Europe, and its origin is quite interesting. In France in the early17th century, the reigning king was named Louis XIII. Although he is the king of the country, he is bald. In order to cover up this defect, he began to wear a long shawl wig. As the saying goes, there are good things in the world, and the next one will be very bad. At that time, this latest ornament swept all over France. Because France at that time was the vane of fashion trends in European countries, this wig style quickly swept the whole of Europe.

Early wigs were made of human hair, such as debtors' hair and dead people's hair. This situation didn't end until Humphrey Ravenscroft invented the technology of making wigs with ponytails in 1822. 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 weave and is easy to break, and it needs constant bleaching and cleaning in the production process. Only the mane produced by China horses can pass these tests.

Although wigs were popular in continental Europe for some time because of their aristocratic temperament, they were a success and a failure in Xiao He. Because it was a royal product, it finally came to an end in the French Revolution. The wig invented by the Bourbon dynasty was finally broken by the guillotine together with Louis XVI's head.

The European wigs we see today are more related to Britain, especially to the British judicial system. There are two reasons. First, Britain has dominated the world for nearly 200 years and has a huge colonial system, which is called the empire that never sets, resulting in its culture having a great influence on the world. Second, Britain implemented a constitutional monarchy, which made wig, a feudal antique, systematically preserved. How did British wigs flow in from France? This has to start with the British bourgeois revolution, the beginning of modern world history. We know/kloc-The bourgeois revolution broke out in Britain in the middle of the 7th century, when the British prince, later charles ii, was forced to take refuge in France. Later, after his successful repair, he brought wig fashion back to England. /kloc-The diary of pepys, an Englishman in the 7th century, truly recorded the history of wig popularity in Britain. 1663165438+1October 2, pepys wrote: "It's still a little sad to say goodbye to my hair, but when it's over, I'm going to wear a wig." He cut off my hair, and my heart is a little separated from it at present; However, it's all over, and my dream continues)

There is another anecdote about wigs 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, Whigs and Tories. Generally speaking, Whigs are radical and Tories are conservative. The two sides fought until later. Whether to wear a wig has also become a manifestation of political attitude. Needless to say, the Tories must wear wigs, and the Whigs must not wear wigs. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of the revolutionary party and the royalist party towards braids when the Qing Dynasty perished. Therefore, Jonathan Swift, a novelist at that time, satirized this situation with a story about the domestic politics of lilliputian lilliputian in his masterpiece Gulliver's Travels: "For more than 70 months, there have been two major political parties in the empire, one is Tramack III, and the other is Tramack III. Because one side has a higher heel and the other side has a lower heel, it is divided into two factions according to the height of the heel. "

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of European wigs. One is long hair with shawl, which is an original product invented by Louis XIII. The English word periwig is generally used for grand events and ceremonial occasions. For example, members of the House of Lords wear long hair at the opening ceremony of the British Parliament. One is a short wig that only covers the top of the head and is usually worn in court. English is generally a wig We are generally familiar with the latter.

Wigs used by the judiciary are different from ordinary wigs, especially because they are expensive. The average judge's wig should be more than 1500, and the most common wig should not be less than 300. The price of shawls, curly hair and wigs of E & Ravenscroftr, Britain's oldest judicial clothing store in London, is as high as more than 4,000 dollars.

The biggest feature of judicial wig is to be proud of being old. The older the wig, the older the wearer's qualifications and age. Because in the judicial field, seniority and age are a fortune. Therefore, the older the wig, the easier it is to get the favor of legal professionals. There is a family of lawyers who have a 94-year-old antique that has been handed down for four generations. It is a family heirloom.

Although wigs are still widely used in the British judiciary, 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 hiding under cotton wool and peeping out." (For God's sake, throw away the grotesque wig that makes the British judgment look like a mouse peeing on bundles of oak trees.) So although both the United States and Britain belong to the maritime law system, they abolished the wig wearing system in the judicial field at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to draw a clear line.

In Britain where wigs are worn, the wig system is also declining. As early as 1840, the British judiciary cancelled the shoulder-length long vacation hair and replaced it with a short and concise wig. 1992 the practice of wearing wigs for judicial personnel of juvenile special courts was abolished. This year, the British Judicial Committee announced on July 12 that in the future, judges and lawyers may not wear wigs when sitting in civil courts, but they will generally wear wigs in criminal courts.

The main reason why the wig system in Britain has fallen to this state is that the price of wigs is too high. If you don't wear wigs, Britain can save 600 thousand pounds of "clothing expenses" for judges and registered lawyers every year. In addition, the unfashionable heart is also a major reason for the decline of wigs. According to a public opinion survey in 2003, nearly 70% of British people think that the wig wearing system should be abolished in Britain.

Just like the imperial sun never set in the past, perhaps in the near future, this ancient charm of the British Empire will finally officially enter history.