How the mighty mullet is making a comeback in SA: Teenagers, young men embrace 80s style
Love it or loathe it, South Aussie teenagers and young men are embracing the mighty mullet. SEND US YOUR MULLET PHOTOS.
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Love or loathe it, the mullet is making its South Aussie comeback – and not just at bogan bingo nights.
Adelaide hairdressers and barbers report an increasing demand for the distinctive ‘80s short at the front and sides but long at the back coiffure that’s been described as “business at the front, party at the back”.
In the 1980s and 1990s heart-throb celebrities and sports stars from actors Mel Gibson, George Clooney and the late Patrick Swayze to tennis ace Andre Agassi and country singer Billy Ray Cyrus embraced the eye-catching style with no shortage of examples in the AFL either — think Paul Roos, Wayne Carey, Warrick Capper, Gary Ayres, Dermot Brereton.
Barbers of Mitcham lead barber and floor manager Theo Kosmidis says the modern mullet has a bit of a twist.
“It is old school but rocking it up with a bit of new school as well … a skin fade (works well) with today’s style of mullet,” he says.
“It is getting really popular, every day, every week we are getting more requests for it … the more kids who get it done, the more everyone else wants it also.”
“Really it is just the fashion coming back, everything works in a circle … some kids can pull it off and look really good. A lot bring in pictures of their favourite AFL and soccer players.”
Current AFL “mullet-heads” include Port Adelaide’s Darcy Byrne-Jones and Dan Houston, Bulldogs’ young gun Bailey Smith and Hawthorn’s Ben Stratton.
Rachel Evans at Tommy Gun’s in Marion agrees the hairstyle is enjoying a resurgence.
“It’s definitely making a comeback — I’m all for it,” she laughs.
“We are seeing a lot of school kids, teenagers and guys in their 20s and 30s coming in and asking for a mullet.
“Some people want the full mullet and some just want an undercut on the side … we are asked for a ‘Dusty Martin’ haircut most often.”
Davide Caruso at Rundle Mall’s Underground Haircutters says he too is receiving more mullet requests than previously.
“Yes, we have seen a bit and created a bit — love the mullet,” he says.
Adelaide electrician Brandon “Sacky” Walczak, for one, is happy the style he has sported for several years is now trending.
“I reckon it is a bit of fun, something a little different — everyone seems to be in a good mood around (a mullet), on a night out it gives people a reason to come up and have a chat,” the 26-year-old Mitchell Park Football Club injured captain, who’s been likened to former Carlton and Glenelg football player and mullet-wearer Stephen “Sticks” Kernahan, says.
“Every time I go on a night out, I end up with multiple people asking for photos with (my mullet) … recently, I’ve been out and there have been others out with mullets who’ve come up and asked for a group photo — there are definitely more mullets coming out.”
“(For me) it started out as a bit of a joke (when Taylor Walker had his) and then it just grew on me, quite literally … I’m not sure how I’d go without it now, I tend to have my hands running through it most of the day.”
While for keen young footballer Charlie Stevens, 14, the mullet is “just a good footy” haircut, pointing to Gary Ablett Snr in his heyday.
“I started off with a Dustin Martin, next got a Patrick Cripps and then one of my mate’s cut it and I’ve just been growing it out since,” he says.
Charlie says several of his friends are now also growing mullets with some “classic 80s-style” dos on display at a football development program he took part in during the holidays.
In typical big brother style, Charlie says his two brothers give him a hard time about his hairstyle.
“They tell me I look like a bogan or feral all the time,” he laughs.
Sadly, for Charlie, his locks will need a trim before heading back to school this week.