The mullet is back. I found through my years of studying fashion history and as a fashion critic and blogger that hair trends are a huge part of fashion. From the powered wigs of the French Revolution to the flowing extensions of today, our locks make fashion statements just like our clothes. Trends are a reflection of our times, they are a barometer of currents in society, ideas, and societal changes.

When gay rapper superstar Lil Nas X arrived at the MTV Music awards in the fall of 2021, it wasn't only his hybrid half feminine and half masculine Atelier Versace outfit that turned heads. It was also his hairdo. The star's gender-bending outfit was crowned by an extraordinarily exaggerated mullet, Jheri curls at the front and wavy tendrils at the back. The mullet has again returned.

The runways of f/w 2022 had representations of the 1980's hair style mixed with an array of classic and fashion-forward looks. The iconic mullet hairstyle, where it's "business up front and party in the back", became popular in the '80s. We see the mullet in other periods of fashion history. If you cast your eyes back to the Greeks and Romans, examples of the mullet are everywhere.

While literature’s first mullet mention may have come from the ancient Greek poet Homer—in The Iliad, he described the Abantes, a group of spearmen, as wearing “their forelocks cropped, hair grown long at the backs,”—the term “mullet” wasn’t actually coined until 1994, thanks to the Beastie Boys’ song “Mullet Head."

Quoted from History,com

In fact, for the ancients, the mullet wasn't a fashion statement but held practical purposes. The cropped hair at the front helped the warriors in battle by keeping hair out of their eyes, and aided in wearing a helmet. While, the long hair in the back kept the neck warm and dry. The bi-level hairstyle is found in many cultures, from the Ancient Europeans to Indigenous North Americans.

THE MULLET TODAY.

 Since David Bowie wore the mullet as a rebellious fashion statement in the Ziggy Stardust days (1972), this hairstyle has faced a mixed reception.

Adopted by the headbangers of the 1980s and often referred to as hockey hair, the mullet was not always a high fashion statement. However, today the mullet has again found its home on the heads of the fashion crowd, the influencers, and pop culture trailblazers.

Today the mullet, can be found on the head of Miley Cyrus in the latest Gucci campaign and the aforementioned Lil Nas X, Rhianna, or Billie Elish. The latest season of Canada's drag race features a young drag artist from Victoria B.C.,(Vivian Vanderpuss, aka Mackenzie Lemire) who out of drag sports a curly mullet that he carries of with fun and flare. But why the mullet today? I believe the mullet reflects the current generations attitudes to fashion, culture, society, and gender identity.

In previous resurrections, the mullet symbolized the straight suburban culture associated with heavy rock music and jocks, falling out of style. However, this latest rebirth of the mullet is perhaps a rebellion against those groups.
The queer culture has recently adopted the mullet reclaiming its once tasteless past. The long and short represents a midpoint between masculine and feminine. Whether queers, are channeling Joe Exotic or reaching as far back as Joan Jett or The New York Dolls, they are loving the renewal of this coiffure. The modern mullet is less about four-wheeler masculinity. It represents the new society of gender fluidity. Non binary and queer youth and young adults are finding their own ways of imprinting their unisex and genderless style on the world and the world of fashion.

The other dimension of the modern mullet is the endorsement of the once ugly or tacky. Much like the fuggly sneaker trend of the past few years, the mullet revels in reclaiming the tacky and ugly and making it fashionable and even perhaps beautiful.

I won't be sporting a mullet any time soon, leaving this trend to the young. However, I celebrate the liberation of this style as one of the young at heart.

WHAT'S HOT

THE MAXI DRESS FOR FALL

Darlings I hate to be the first one to mention it, but it's September. The summer of 2022 saw record temps, and the need for lightweight sundresses, crop tops and swimsuits. However, in the northern hemisphere the switch from summer to fall can be brisk. Here in Vancouver it can be over night, one day you're on a balcony sipping a margarita the next you're grasping an umbrella and sipping a pumpkin latte. With this change of seasons comes the time to transition to a fall wardrobe.

One of the hottest looks for fall is an all in one look created with a maxi dress. A dress gives you a single item outfit that takes the hard work out of getting dressed. Furthermore the maxi dress gives a chance to show your unique style in a large format. Floor grazing maxi dresses were shown on the runways for fall 2022 including Tory Burch, Proenza Schuller, and Simone Rocha to name a few. I have selected some maxi dresses that show the range and variety of what's hot for this fall. Shop these latest looks while they last.

CIAO FOR NOW J.ANDREW