New Trend: The Mullet Agenda is Underway
If there is one thing that hasn’t been interrupted by 2020 it is certainly the evolution of style trends. While this year has brought about many unrivaled happenings, 2020 fashion in many ways can be marked as a great return. Though the dictation of this year’s trends may have been moved from street-style to social media look-books, today’s style crazes are taking us back to a time before technology connected us in such ways.
This year we’ve seen 80s and 90s trends come back in full force. From oversized flannels and baguette purses, to monochrome colored hair looks reminiscent of a Crush on You era Lil’ Kim ,to oversized puffer coats that bring to mind iconic NYC street style of days past.
Now we’re witnessing the comeback of an 80s trend that many might have thought would never make a return: Mullets.
And don’t worry, we’re not talking about the ones from your auntie’s highschool yearbook.
Via Pinterest.
The mullet hairstyle has undergone an unexpected resurgence in recent years. This "business in the front, party in the back” hairstyle has some deep roots dating back more than 1,000 years. However, in more recent history it was widely popularized in the 80s, a period in which it was worn by hippies, heavy metal musicians, and hip-hop artists alike.
Add hairspray, LOTS of hairspray: Tina Turner in 1984. Photograph: Cine Text/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
Who made mullets a thing?
The short answer is: Rihanna. Thee pusher of fashion trends and raiser of the fashion bar herself has long attempted and mastered this risky style. First graced in 2013, Rihanna has long proven that mullets in their truest form can exist beyond the limits of high-fashion editorial spreads, affirming for many other Black women that we too can rock a mullet.
Rihanna’s 2013 mullet. Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images.
Over the years Rihanna has rocked a number of variations of her iconic mullet. She’s pulled off the tight all-Black bowl cut with shaved sides and the effortless fringey-highlighted look more recently. Now, in the dark year of 2020 when it might have seemed that all hope was lost, Rihanna appeared in the final hour with the return of her iconic mullet to remind us that hope remains.
So, why are mullets making a comeback now?
When Bad Gal Riri says we’re wearing mullets: we’re wearing mullets. Riri has been teasing the return of this throwback look of hers for months this year, particularly in her iconic Savage x Fenty Lingerie show, where she and celebrity hairstylist Yusef Williams revived the Riri mullet.
Kevin Mazur and Jerritt Clark /Getty Images
Black Twitter’s Mullet Agenda is underway.
The mullet agenda trend finds itself among the growing list of fads that have long failed to see and center Black women. From the Yee-Haw movement, to cottagecore aesthetic, Black women are once again resurrecting looks of the past and redefining them as ones of the future.
In honor of this definite trend to watch for 2021, here are 8 of our favorite Black girl mullet moments:
1. MUA @Raisaflowers
2. @ivyblonde3
3. Hair Artist @ShamelessTyla
4. Actress Ryan Destiny
5. Recording Artist Nitta Roze
6. Singer Dylan Ali
7. Olive - @_awlove
8. Model Leomie Anderson
Everybody say “thank you, Riri!” for reminding us once again that Black girls can rock it all.
