![Caricature entitled La Toilette d’un clerc de procureur, 1816: a lawyer's clerk has his wig generously powdered by a servant or barber.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/la-toilette-dun-clerc-de-procureur-titelbild-300x225.jpg)
The power and pomp of the wig
During the Baroque and Rococo periods no self-respecting man or woman would consider themselves properly dressed without one finishing touch: their wig. Fashionable first at the French court, their popularity then spread all over Europe. Coiffed hairpieces long served as a symbol of social status for both sexes.
Increasing popularity thanks to syphilis and Louis XIII
![Louis XIII of France in 1622, wearing the à la comète style, in which mid-length hair on the back of the head is tied into a side ponytail. Drawing by Daniel Dumonstier.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ludwig-xiii-1622-daniel-dumonstie-223x300.jpg)
![Louis XIII in 1635, dressed in armour and wearing a wig. Painting by Philippe de Champaigne.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ludwig-xiii-1635-philippe-de-champaigne-245x300.jpg)
Louis XIV and the periwig
![Louis XIV, shown here in a 1661 portrait, made a full head of long curls the male beauty ideal. At this time he was already using hairpieces to supplement his own hair.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/louis-xiv-1661-haar-251x300.jpg)
![The wedding of Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy, to Marie-Adélaide of Savoy in 1697.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hochzeit-von-louis-de-france-300x184.jpg)
Pomade, perfume and powder
![The wigmaker's establishment often also served as a barber's and hairdresser's. Engraving from 1762.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/atelier-des-peruckenmachers-1771-300x187.jpg)
![Ingenious scaffolding in a Paris hair salon. The British caricature ‘Fashions in hair’ of 1788 makes fun of the Académie de Coiffure and the extravagant piled-high styles of the French court.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/academie-de-coiffure-titel-300x191.jpg)
![The Wig Shop caricature. If they had any of their own hair left, women and men alike often kept their heads shaved under their wigs. Watercolour by Thomas Rowlandson, undated.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/the-wig-shop-300x212.jpg)
![The countryside hair trade. Der Haarkäufer in Thüringen (The Hair Merchant Comes to Thüringen)](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/der-haarkaufer-in-thuringen-300x213.jpg)
Variety of wig styles in the 18th century
![King Louis XV (1710-1774) in a white wig as was worn in the mid-18th century. Painting by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ludwig-xv-perucke-250x300.jpg)
![Horsehair bag wig, circa 1780.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/haarbeutelperucke-aus-pferdehaaren-um-ca-1780-251x300.jpg)
Marie Antoinette and the coiffure à la belle Poule
![Extravagant hair creations fit with her lavish lifestyle: Marie Antoinette, queen of France, with a pouf hairstyle. Portrait circa 1775.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/marie-antoinette-1775-225x300.jpg)
![](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/coiffure-a-la-belle-poule-194x300.jpg)