September is usually the perfect time for self-induced personality-defining makeovers. Bored of your sun-soaked surf tresses? Need something sharp and bold to enter the new season with? Look no further. The mullet is what you need.
With David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust leading the trend, the mullet became the era-defining haircut of the 70’s and 80’s. The high-low shape was spotted on everyone, from Paul McCartney to Billy Ray Cyrus, George Michael and even Jane Fonda.
Although the hairstyle transcended genders and subcultures like no other haircut at the time, the mullet’s heydays faded in the 1990’s, when it became divisive and even… controversial . Deemed ugly and uncool by popular standards, it became associated with the image of rednecks and trailer trash – a far cry from the chic minimalist aesthetic of the 90’s and early noughties.
But the waves of change have shifted once again. Zendaya rocked a blonde pixie mullet on the red carpet at the 2016 Grammy Awards, curly step-mullets were spotted on Virgil Abloh’s Off-White SS/18 runway, and more recently a neon-coloured punk interpretation was spotted on the runway for Anna Sui’s A/W19 collection. It’s safe to say that for the last three years, the mullet has been creeping back in to the zeitgeist.
So if you thought that fashion was bored of “bad taste”— you’re wrong. The hunger for anti-aesthetic, post-normcore styles, which exude the perfect blend of casual irony, is persisting.
And that should come as good news. Fluid in its nature, the mullet is a statement of gender neutrality. At a time when conversations surrounding self-expression and identity are gaining considerable momentum, embodying a no-rule spirit and anti-establishment image might be a delicate way to take part in today’s countercultural movements and embrace your inner self.
But if you’re afraid to go the whole way, don’t worry you don’t need to. Low-key, deconstructed, geometric mullets are the 2019-approved variations to try.
Ready to step out of your comfort zone this fall? Look no further. We’ve rounded up the best IG mullet inspiration.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1g80-RljvI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0gyKJZh6dj/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv2a3J3AGol/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwYW-DeJGTj/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu71bbyH66G/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Boy4zxhHQqF/
