THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Hair today, gone tomorrow.

A judge has asked lawyers to shed their wigs next time they appear before her at the International Criminal Court.

A handful of attorneys appeared Monday in traditional black gowns and white horsehair wigs for a preliminary hearing in a case dealing with violence after Kenya's disputed 2007 presidential election.

Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova paused briefly at the end of the hearing to pass a hair-raising judgment.

"This is not the dress code of this institution," she said.

"In this quite warm weather maybe it will be more convenient to be without wigs," she added with a smile.