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.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
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.