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6A
Friday, November 10, 2000
For comments, contact Clay McCuistion at 864-4924 or e-mail features@kansan.com
Everything you wanted to know about
mullets
but were afraid to ask
Intrepid Kansan reporter Derek Prater tackles the infamous short-long hairstyle
Derek Prater writer@kansan.com Kansan senior staff writer
it's short. It's long.
It's a paradox coiled into an enigma.
Perhaps that's why the mullet inspires such fascination.
It's a paradox coiffed into an enigma.
Perhaps that's why the mirror inspires such attention. Reactions to the short-on-top, long-in-back hairstyle are as varied as the terminology applied to it. Whether you call it a bi-level, a Camaro cut, a mudflap or a neckwarmer, it's bound to be met with a hum, humor, disdain, perhaps even aggression.
And though the heyday of the mullet may have passed, it continues to occupy a place — however suspect — in our cultural psyche.
"I've been a big fan of mullets." Krump said. "I kind of wanted to identify with those people."
tural payne.
Lucas Krump, Overland Park junior, knows first-hand the effect a mullet can have on people. A self-described "mullet enthusiast," Krump had extensions of real human hair glued to the back of his head to create a mullet, which he wore for several days last week as part of an experiment. (Exactly what the experiment contributed to the good of humanity is still debatable.)
wanted to identify with those people.
He found that he wasn't alone in his affinity for the mullet.
have been pretty supportive. But Krump also encountered some negative reactions. On Halloween night at a downtown bar, Krump's mullet nearly got him in a fight.
He found that he wasn't alone in his affinity for the milieu. "It's turned a lot of heads," Krump said, "and overall, people have been pretty supportive."
He said he was sporting the mullet at Quinton's. 615 Massachusetts St., and was "playing the part, being loud," when some other patrons took offense to his presence.
Especially his mullet.
"They weren't having it," Krump said. "They really wanted to fight about the mullet. They said something like, 'Go drink with your own type.' I could see it getting ripped off my head."
John Ewing, Columbia, Mo., senior, is familiar with the litany of stereotypes attached to the mullet. He, too, had one for Halloween. But his was real and entirely for the purpose of a costume.
"Generally, the lower rungs of society — not necessarily just militia men," he said. "My friend went as a heavy-metal rocker."
But while mullets often draw unfavorable associations, some people view mults as symbols of fun and outrageousness.
Mark Toepfer is one of four seniors at Kansas State University who have formed an informal Mullet Club. None of the members has a real mullet, but they occasionally pay homage to the style with mullet wigs worn for festive forays into Aggleville.
Toefer said the club was embraced by Manhattan's bar patrons who were generally "pretty accepting of diversity."
Mullet slang:
par ents who wield a sword. A real mullet takes a lot of dedication, Toefer said. And he's yet to go for the style because he said he realized the cut came with some baggage.
"It's not a dying breed," he said. "It's a trend we're trying to bring back. It'll never completely be gone."
But Toefer said he thought there would always be some place for the mullet.
"I haven't because I'm a business major," Toepfer said. "It doesn't go with the professional world."
bring back. It'd never compare Hillaire Wheeler, a hairstylist at Strands, 201 W. Eighth St. said she saw fewer mullets than in the past, but she still had a client who wore one.
She said a "modified mullet" was making a modest comeback, citing a recent Brad Pitt haircut that was a little longer in back.
"I've been cutting the back shorter and shorter," Wheeler said. "I don't want him looking like Billy Ray Cyrus."
In the October issue of W, a snooty fashion magazine, an article gushes over actor Jared Leto's "newly blond, streaked and tufted mullet haircut." Leto's mullet, according to the article, makes him "otherworldly beautiful and Brit-pop edgy."
Wheeler said, however, that the hairstyle wasn't necessarily linked to one look or stereotype.
Seven (the shape of the number)
Neckwarmer
10-90 (a numerical proportion of the amount of hair on top to that in the back) Achy-breaky-bad-mistaky
But the traditional mullet most likely will be relegated to the pages of the numerous satirical Web sites dedicated to mullet culture. And that style may continue to be pushed to the fringes of acceptability.
Squirrel poelt
Business in front, party in back
Camaro cut
rings of acceptability. As Krump said, "People are maybe self-conscious about a mullet in the new millennium."
Soccer rocker
Schlong (short+long)
Missouri compromise
Mudflap
Canadian passport
Ranchero
Hockey hair
IROC cut (for race car lovers)
John Ewing:
Favorite celebrity mullets:
"David Bowle, circa Ziggy Stardust. It may be the origin of the mullet."
"Ron Jeromy — great curls, good plume."
Mark Toepfer:
Hilary Wheeler:
"Billy Ray Cyrus."
"Patrick Swayze and Kurt Russell."