Taking silk

This is our elder son, a barrister, who today was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC), known as taking silk.

This fine ceremonial dress is full Court dress, a full-bottomed wig, a jabot at the throat, and breeches, ruffles and white gloves and steel buckles on the shoes, and a silk gown. Only QCs are permitted to wear silk gowns in court, which is why they are known as silks.

The red leather wallet he is carrying contains the letters patent with the Queen's seal

The ceremony which we attended was at Westminster Hall, London (adjacent to the Houses of Parliament) was steeped in tradition.

This was followed by admission to three different courts in which he practises.

The Extra shows a black rosette attached at the back. Now for ceremonial effect, originally it was used to catch oil and powder from the wig.

You can read about Queen's Counsel in a very detailed Wikipedia article, here

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Counsel