Hot or not? My question refers to the mini mullet the planet’s most desirable men—including Paul Mescal and Harry Styles—seem to be turning to en masse this year. When I posed this same question to my Instagram community recently, the answer was a resounding not , save for a handful of wrong’uns (some of whom I call friends), who, incorrectly, responded positively to the trend. Despite the general consensus, the world seems to have gone mad for this divisive haircut, and many incredibly good-looking A-list men are dabbling with it.
Paul Mescal was one of the first in the public eye to sport the business-at-the-front, party-at-the-back style, with a mussed-up curly mane on top and mini mullet caressing the nape of his neck. Admittedly, the cut marries well with Mescal’s personal blend of A-list laddishness, complete with short shorts and a chain. As for Styles, his fans had already mourned his decision to replace his boyband-friendly “short back and sides” with a buzz cut not too long ago.
His number one has since grown out, but those signature curls returned with an unwelcome companion in tow...
a lengthy flick at the nape of his neck, just like Mescal’s. The haircut—which he paired with oversized aviator sunglasses and a striped tee while out in Rome earlier in the summer—is one that evokes questionable looks that were popular in the ’70s. Styles pulls it off.
.. but only just.
Need I bring Austin Butler, another of the hottest men alive, into the sordid equation? Here is a man who has so much swag it’s palpable even through a phone screen (see this clip on British Vogue ’s Instagram account), and yet when he arrived at the premiere of The Bikeriders in June with his now-signature coiffed fringe (Elvis-style, he’s still half in character years later), his hair was far too long at the back. Yep, there it was again, the unsightly flick of the mini mullet. What I can’t get my head around is why this haircut has become so appealing to an entire generation of young men.
It’s giving “man who never washes his hair” (even though these three definitely do), rather than rugged Adonis. And the problem is that, while Austin, Harry, and Paul are sufficiently famous, good-looking, and adored to (just about) make it work, the trickle-down effect means that normal men are being influenced into trying a style that the average person has no business experimenting with. Hairstylist Halley Brisker , who creates incredible hairstyles for the likes of Lily James, Kaia Gerber (Butler’s girlfriend), and Sophie Turner, was briefly tempted by the look.
Brisker, whose aesthetic is definitely “cool creative”, says he noticed a waiter at a lunch spot in Ibiza with the hairstyle, and decided to emulate the cut himself. “People often assume that male haircuts are much easier to navigate than women’s, but the opposite is often true,” he tells me, minus his mini mullet. “The problem with me getting a mini mullet was that while I can change my haircut, I can’t change my hair texture in any meaningful way, which naturally affects the cut I was attempting to achieve.
You can’t put a round peg in a square hole and my texture wasn’t naturally suitable for the cut, so it was an uphill battle.” As a beauty editor, I’m obviously all for experimenting with your look..
. but I still believe that Brisker had a lucky escape. While the mini mullet is undoubtedly reflective of the moment – and perhaps an easy way for an internet boyfriend to bring a little edge to a carefully orchestrated image – it’s the kind of style I suspect we’ll look back on for years to come and ask.
.. why ? Paul, Harry, and Austin may have gotten away with it, but let’s leave this trend to the A-listers, shall we?.
