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Fashion is not always an attempt to stay stylish. Throughout history, clothing and personal appearance have reflected social status, political alignment, sexuality, and more. But because of this symbolism, these simple but effective means of expression can also generate resistance from people in power. As early as 416 AD, Roman emperors Honorius and Theodosius II attempted to curb a growing trend they considered inappropriate for their male citizens: long hair.
This older manes (long locks) was probably not enacted solely because of their aesthetic preferences. As the historian Javier Arce recently argued in his study published in the magazine PyreneesThe Roman government linked longer hair in men to a growing “barbaric” problem. The problem, however, was not an influx of Germanic, Frankish, and Gothic residents. It was that their personal grooming styles were beginning to rub off on the Romans. And it was humiliating for the Roman elite.
Ancient Rome often depended on lex vestaria (laws controlling clothing choices and personal grooming) as a means of maintaining social order. During the last years of the empire, rulers regulated clothing according to social rank, allowing slaves to be quickly identified. Other examples included prohibiting senators from wearing military items, as well as restricting fashions typically associated with outside cultures.
According to Arce, the moment in which Honorius and Theodosius II applied the law of long locks was not at all random. The order came shortly after the Visigoth king Alaric captured and sacked Rome in 410 AD. Six years later, Germanic clothing and hairstyles had become so popular that the empire’s rulers worried about a “Germanization” of their subjects, which could weaken their hold on power. In addition to requiring short hair, Rome also banned clothing made from animal skins, even for slaves, another fashion associated with Germanic enemies.
So were these attempts to suppress non-Roman cultural influences ultimately successful? In the end, it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. By 476 AD, the Western Roman Empire had effectively collapsed, ceding military and economic power to the very “barbarians” whose fads the ruling class hoped to quell.
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