When I want to relax you can usually find me in front of the television watching a British period episode or movie. I am enchanted with the romantic, proper and snooty stories of aristocratic Europe and how they played the world stage….exception being the pompous and silly wigs men lavishly wore. I decided to find out the why of my irritations: wig obsession and class fascination for the absurd.
It’s Not What You Think
Long or short, curly or bouffant; powdered wigs were the prestigious adornment of English and French courtiers and aristocrats for nearly two hundred years. Even in 18th century Colonial America, the practice of wearing the Peruke was fashionable. Although George Washington did not wear a wig like other gentlemen of the 1700’s, he did let his hair grow long in the back, curled on the sides and dusted with white powder to mask his own natural color perhaps to make him seem older.
Fashionistas of the 17th and 18th centuries were both flamboyant and compulsive, but donning the Peruke had a sinister bent to it.
Nasty Hygiene, Syphilis, Vanity, and Lice –Oh, My!
Wigs weren’t a new concept prior to their fashion peak in Europe after the Middle Ages. As far back as ancient Egypt; horse hair, goat’s hair or human hair was weaved into a protective head covering from the sun. But what made the wig or Peruke (big powdered wig) of Europe so important to the royal court and courtiers alike, was its basic ruse to flaunt wealth and prestige, cover baldness and bloody sores derived from Syphilis and to control lice. Dusting the peruke with scented powder of lavender and orange added value and helped sedate the wearer’s body order and hopefully, those around him or her. Small bags of lavender worn between the shirt and waistcoat were also used.
The infestation and unstoppable outbreak of lice starting in the middle ages added insult to injury to an already beleaguered people. Shaving the head and daunting a wig seemed to do the trick as those pesky lice transferred happily to their new home. Wigmakers soon found themselves in the delousing business and were paid handsomely to boil the nasty wigs and make them like new.
The Story Behind the Charade
The dreaded Bubonic Plague of the 13th and 14th centuries not only killed millions of Europeans, it inspired the Catholic Church (most of Europe was Christian at that time and took religion seriously) to proclaim an edict denouncing the taking of baths as a possible agent in the spread of the disease. Peasants and aristocrats alike were advised against pernicious bathing. Cleanliness was reduced to washing the face and hands, if needed, and a full body bath sporadic at best. It was rumored that Queen Isabella of Spain (1451-1504) and France’s Louis XIV (1638-1718) each claimed to have taken a bath only twice in their lives and that Louis smelled so bad a Russian Ambassador to the court compared him to a wild animal!
By 1580 sexual proclivity and lack of hygiene, especially within the aristocratic class, emboldened Syphilis to spread quickly and become the worse epidemic since the plague more than two centuries earlier. Without antibiotics, victims presented with baldness, dementia, blindness, open sores and nasty rashes. To be bald was to be shunned. To be bald was to sully a reputation. A wig would certainly help hide this disgrace and humiliation.
The Sun King’s Claim to Fame
Louis XIV of France (The Sun King-1638-1718) started to lose his hair at the tender age of 17. To hide this embarrassing situation he hired 48 wig makers to design his crafty allusion of normalcy. Soon after, Charles II of England (1662-1685) liked what he saw on his cousin Louis and followed suit with his own professionally styled wig. (Both Louis and Charles were said to have had Syphilis.)
With two kings making a fashion statement simultaneously, the moniker of a fad was born: the peruke became irresistible. Anyone who was anyone just had to have one. Outlandish competition was afoot and common sense out the door. The wealthy had no bounds on vanity and yet smelled like ripe cheese.
At the End of the Day….
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