It once happened - in the vanilla game - with some of the masks. It also happens if you add a weird piece of clothing (like the draugur stuff) to a normal NPC.
So, my guess/assumption is that all NPCs cannot wear all outfits ... Have you tried with a different helmet?
(also; idk if the f4 thing has an effect here ... try it, just to be sure ... but I don't think so?)