This Is How Teens During The Renaissance Really Lived

If there is anything consistent in the history of teenagers, it's adults complaining about them. What could have caused the obligatory finger-wagging during the Renaissance? Long hair, apparently.

According to The Premodern Teenager, 15th-century Italian youths liked to wear their hair long, even curling the ends for extra social credit. As this was a style distinct to young folks, it was often derided, with one preacher admonishing boys to "keep your hair a proper length." This was echoed almost word-for-word in the 1960s and 1970s, according to West Virginia University, when lengthening hair styles for young men once again caused much gnashing of teeth.

Some young men might have cropped their hair short but got pretty racy otherwise with tight-fitting clothing. Yes, teenage fashion trends of the Renaissance included the rise of the codpiece. As per The New Yorker, the codpiece began as a simple triangle of cloth connecting one stocking to another. Over time, people seized on the opportunity to show off, and the original cloth gusset became larger, more decorative, and generally harder to ignore. Someone, presumably a person with no sense of shame whatsoever, might even reach into their bejeweled codpiece to pull out a bit of poetry or a snack.

In the interest of fairness, however, we can't pin this trend entirely on teenagers. Even kings, like England's bombastic Henry VIII, sported codpieces in their portraits long after their own adolescences had abandoned them.

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