Wigs became essential accessories for polite society during the reign of England's King Charles II (1660-1685), according to the Judiciary of England and Wales. Judges and lawyers first wore them simply because that was what everyone wore outside the court.
Charles II was said to have returned from France wearing a powdered wig around 1660, after the fashion of the Court of Louis XIV.
However, the legal profession apparently did not adopt the practice wholesale until 1865 - and some judges remained defiant even then, preferring their own hair to horsehair.
Judges wore full-bottomed wigs until the 1780s, when the less formal, smaller bob wig - with frizzed sides and a short tail at the back - was adopted for civil trials.
The full-bottomed wigs, which continued to be used for criminal trials until the 1840s, are reserved today only for ceremonies.
In 1822, London wigmaker Humphrey Ravenscroft patented the 'forensic wig', a style featuring fixed curls that did not require frizzing, curling or application of ointment. The wig remains the style worn by barristers today.