I knew a guy that used everything from egg whites to elmer's glue to snot for purposes of fixing his hair style. Bugs didn't seem to be much of an issue for him. I suspect the bugs were smart enough to avoid him.
As for the wild fashion sense, it may serve several purposes in a social and/or tactical sense:
1) It could serve as a status symbol, a way of showing that they have power or status because they can "afford" to wear something besides utilitarian farmer clothes.
2) It could serve a "psych-out" purpose, appearing frightening and unfamiliar to the peasants.
3) It could serve the same purposes of early uniforms, making it easier to identify one's teammates in the thick of a fight. In this case making it easy to tell the goats from the sheep I suppose.
Those are only a few of the purposes I can think of off the top of my head.
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