My image of an attorney has been completely colored by my life in the US, so to me, an attorney's uniform was a suit and tie. Nothing more, nothing less.
So imagine my surprise when I began watching Nigerian movies (they're hilarious, you should watch them) and I saw Africans acting out courtroom dramas with musty, ratty, 18th century wigs perched on their heads. My first reaction was: WTF? Why are these grown-ass men playing dress up with historically European costumes in their courtrooms? And those wigs looked really hot, cause the actors wearing them were sweating like crazy in these flicks too. It looked like Niagra falls was running down their faces.
So I began researching why the hell my Nigerian brothers were putting themselves through the torture of wearing colonial wigs from the white man's hey day. I perused the Internets and stumbled upon the history of the barristers and the practices of British law. Apparently, the lawyers and judges of olden times saw the wigs, which are made of horse hair btw, as a sign of respect, status and intimidation. Yeah....intimidated is exactly how I feel when I look at grown men walking around with curly carpets on their heads. Good one, guys. Just to give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps this argument held some weight in the 18th century when bathing was infrequent and people were shorter and smaller. But how the hell can you make that argument with a straight face in the 21st century?
Well, the Brits are finally wising up...somewhat. The judges have decided that they will no longer be wearing the fugly, old-fashioned wigs in family and civil court, sparing us all from the ridiculous spectacle. CBS News has the report.
The barristers still think they're pretty nifty though. For some strange reason, Tim Dutton of the Barristers Council thinks that the wigs provide the lawyers with a layer of anonymity. WHAT? Has he seen those things? Since when has a wig ever worked as a disguise? Britney Spears has worn pink wigs, black wigs and blonde wigs, she still looks like Britney Spears. Give me a break, counsel!
I want to know when the Nigerians will wake up and drop the silly wigs too. Blonde works on very few black people, Mary J. Blige and Beyonce being the exception, and the whole getup is just out of this time period. This is one instance where America's got it right.
