Royal patronage was crucial to the revival of the wig. Queen Elizabeth I of England famously wore a red wig, tightly and elaborately curled in a "Roman" style while King Louis XIII of France (1601-1643) and King Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) pioneered wig-wearing among men from the 1620s onwards. King Louis XIV of France was also popularly down pat as The Sun King (in French Le Roi Soleil). During his reign he build Human Hair Wigs the Château de Versailles, a large and extravagant royal residence and moved there the court life from Paris. King Louis XIV was dictating men's fashion at the date with his sophisticated style, and his cheerful taste for luxury.

Women's wigs developed in a somewhat distinctive way. They were worn from the 18th generation onwards - although at first only surreptitiously - and full wigs in the 19th and initial 20th century were not fashionable. They were often worn by old ladies who had lost their hair. In the film Mr. Skeffington (1944), when Bette Davis derelict to wear a wig after a bout of diphtheria, it is a moment of pathos and a symbol of her frailty.