Let's talk hair/fashion (and mullets)

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

I've never understood why this hairstyle is so, so hated these days or why it's so associated with "rednecks." I lived in NYC from the time I was born in 1990 to 1997, and until late 1996, my dad wore a mullet. And he wasn't a redneck even in his persona, nor was he an uneducated hillbilly (another connotation of the mullet); He was a professional who often tied it back into a ponytail. All of us have our images of our parents when we were little--our memories, that iconic image of them when they were at their best--and for me, with my father, I remember him with his large, round, '90s eyeglasses and his mullet. I too had a mullet, I sported it from late 1995, when it began growing, to September 1996. I also had a mullet throughout '92--My parents only got the front of my hair, my bangs, cut until I was about 2 years old. After that it was the 90s Mushroom haircut until '96.

Me with a mullet, June 4th, 1996:


I tend to think that the 40s-90s are the best span for fashion ever. I always loved the way our grandparents or great grandparents dressed, with their slicked back hair, polo shirts or dress shirts, slacks and whatnot. Or the big hair and big clothes of the 80s. Or all the wild trends of the 70s.

I'm a straight male, but I find myself often fascinated by fashion, hairstyles, trends, etc, and if you guys want, we could talk about 'em here. Maybe even dig up some "embarassing" photos of yourselves wearing an outdated style from years gone by. Could be nostalgic.

[Blackthorne]

Fashion and trends almost always have their embaressing moments, as well as their successes.  The mullet was popular amongst business professionals in the 80's and early 90's, but it grew into an outrageous style adopted by those of lesser means.  It happens - things trickle down socially, and the groups that embrace things eventually leave them.

Bt

[wilco64256]

Fashion and trends almost always have their embaressing moments, as well as their successes.  The mullet was popular amongst business professionals in the 80's and early 90's, but it grew into an outrageous style adopted by those of lesser means.  It happens - things trickle down socially, and the groups that embrace things eventually leave them.

Bt

Like pogs.

[Blackthorne]

Well, take for instance the "hipster" scene.  The vintage clothes, skinny jeans, ironic use of fashion accesories.... that was really popular in Williamsburg, Brooklyn several years ago.  Now, it's proliferated all over the country and every small town now has a segment of young people who dress ironically, grow ironic moustaches (or have the moustache tattoo on their finger), the "hipster glasses" and they claim to read Pitchfork Magazine and only are into "indie rock".... and that scene is trickling out of Brooklyn.

Bt

[Enchantermon]

Which is hilariously ironic itself.

Personally, I never followed all of the "in" stuff. I couldn't have when I was young, and now that I'm older I don't have any desire to. I wear my hair how I want (well, usually), dress how I want, listen to the music I want and do the things I want. As long as I'm not breaking any laws or making anyone else around me uncomfortable, I feel like I should be pretty much free to do my own thing and not have to worry about conforming to the latest trends. It's not like I'm actively going against trends and I have nothing against the people who do follow them (as long as they don't get haughty about it), I just don't really care about keeping up.

[Fierce Deity]

Fashion and trends almost always have their embaressing moments, as well as their successes.  The mullet was popular amongst business professionals in the 80's and early 90's, but it grew into an outrageous style adopted by those of lesser means.  It happens - things trickle down socially, and the groups that embrace things eventually leave them.

Bt

Like pogs.

Hey man, pogs were awesome. I had a huge collection. If it wasn't for the "next big thing" (I think it was Pokemon at the time), then pogs could have stuck around a little longer.

Well, take for instance the "hipster" scene.  The vintage clothes, skinny jeans, ironic use of fashion accesories.... that was really popular in Williamsburg, Brooklyn several years ago.  Now, it's proliferated all over the country and every small town now has a segment of young people who dress ironically, grow ironic moustaches (or have the moustache tattoo on their finger), the "hipster glasses" and they claim to read Pitchfork Magazine and only are into "indie rock".... and that scene is trickling out of Brooklyn.

Bt

Understood, but what about the Steampunk scene in Seattle? Seattle essentially started the Grunge scene, but once it started to span the entire world, they started new trends, like Steampunk. Which I think isn't that successful. Now, a trend that hasn't caught on with the majority of the world will die out before it really even had a chance to leave a point of origin. Some fashion aesthetics just aren't meant to be. Fashions will come and go sure, but some fashions will go extinct before anybody gets a chance to notice it.

[Blackthorne]

Steampunk is WAY more mainstream than you think.  It's not as widespread, as say, grunge, but Steampunk had it's moment.  And that peaked over 12 years ago.


Bt

[Fierce Deity]

Steampunk is WAY more mainstream than you think.  It's not as widespread, as say, grunge, but Steampunk had it's moment.  And that peaked over 12 years ago.


Bt

Could have fooled me. The way Steampunk accentuates the nonsensical themes of its fashion leads me to believe that it didn't go anywhere. I have heard the term used many times, so I know it wasn't a "dead on arrival" fashion, but I also don't think it became as popular as the "hipster" trends as you were pointing out in your other post. It was very, very, very niche in my opinion.

[Blackthorne]

Steampunk had it's mainstream go in 1999 - Hollywood tried to ride it with "Wild Wild West".... that's some pretty mainstream, corporate steampunking!


Bt

[Fierce Deity]

Steampunk had it's mainstream go in 1999 - Hollywood tried to ride it with "Wild Wild West".... that's some pretty mainstream, corporate steampunking!


Bt

Oh, that movie did have some Steampunk qualities, huh? I forgot about that. Every time I think of Steampunk, I think of the Victorian-esque Steampunk (a la Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magcka Obscura).

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, of course - within fashion and trends you will always have the more specialized, niche stuff - which is often the impetus for the social movement, but when it gets to the mainstream, it's already diluted enough to where the general public can latch on to it.   Steampunk is much more proliferated than its ardent followers would like to admit; it's a part of the social and commercial conciousness.  Take for instance, this - go to Etsy and do a search for "Steampunk".  You'll find thousands of items marked "Steampunk", many of which are not REALLY Steampunk in design and operation at all.  But people know the word, and they want to buy into the image.

It's why stores like Hot Topic exist.  Hell, the name "Hot Topic" implies just what it sells - whatever is trending.  That store deals in disenfranchised and so-called "fringe" youth - they're selling "cool" to the kids and making a tidy profit.  Meanwhile, you get millions of "unique" and "different" kids all wearing the same clothes, sporting the same jewelry and getting the same tattoos - becoming homogenized to be "different".  It's a very impressive marketing strategy.  People have become very wealthy and successful in the selling of the idea.


Bt

[Fierce Deity]

Yeah, of course - within fashion and trends you will always have the more specialized, niche stuff - which is often the impetus for the social movement, but when it gets to the mainstream, it's already diluted enough to where the general public can latch on to it.   Steampunk is much more proliferated than its ardent followers would like to admit; it's a part of the social and commercial conciousness.  Take for instance, this - go to Etsy and do a search for "Steampunk".  You'll find thousands of items marked "Steampunk", many of which are not REALLY Steampunk in design and operation at all.  But people know the word, and they want to buy into the image.

It's why stores like Hot Topic exist.  Hell, the name "Hot Topic" implies just what it sells - whatever is trending.  That store deals in disenfranchised and so-called "fringe" youth - they're selling "cool" to the kids and making a tidy profit.  Meanwhile, you get millions of "unique" and "different" kids all wearing the same clothes, sporting the same jewelry and getting the same tattoos - becoming homogenized to be "different".  It's a very impressive marketing strategy.  People have become very wealthy and successful in the selling of the idea.


Bt

Agreed, ten-fold. It's like the episode of South Park when the popular kids started to dress like vampires, and the goth kids had to burn down a Hot Topic just to get them to act normally.

(Posted on: July 06, 2011, 02:21:31 PM)

Ahh, speaking of Steampunk, this DLC that I found on Steam shows a new visage of Steampunk that I personally haven't seen before.

Killing Floor: Steampunk

[MikPal]

I usually have a small mullet. Sometimes I let it grow, but since my hear has a mind of it's own the ends start curling up. If I let it go too much the hair behind my ears bends so that I look like I have horns growing underneath my ears.

Throughout my life I've had a ponytail down to 1/3 of my back(chopped it off with a knife, 'cause older women used to grab it in work), shaved head (made my head look like a pear, so it was no good), a buzz cut ('cause when I was a kid, I wanted to look like Schwarzenegger, so I took a poster of him to my barber) and of course a Potter cut before there was any Harry Potter except in a movie called Troll. Recently I though about getting a flat mohawk, but that fell through 'cause in the end I though it would have looked like something had died on my head.

My rule has been to go with what you want to go with.

I have to say that you were lucky to spend childhood (meaning that time when your parents chose how to cut your hair) during the nineties, since in my childhood the coolest do was owned by Michael Knight.

[liggy002]

Have you ever heard of a "bullet"?  It's when a person with a bald head has a mullet.  Thus the term, BULLET.

(Posted on: July 28, 2011, 05:52:16 PM)

I remember pogs!  I used to play that back in high school.  It's too bad that I really sucked at it though.  Those little cardboard chips and those big glass anchors that you would drop on the chips- at least I think that's what I would do... it's been such a long time.

[MikPal]

Pogs? When I was young we used to make cows and sheep out of pinecombs and sticks, chase lizards at the beach and eat carpenter ants from the bathroom floor.

Pogs, phui!

[atec123]

i have a lot of hipsterish friends.

i don't really follow any trends or even think about my clothes very much.  i don't really dress like most people my age, i usually wear plain white t shirts, old t shirts from like the early 90s that used to be my parents', and baggy ish jeans from outlet malls.  i also have some weird shoes that any other kid in the world would have probably thrown away years ago.

i used to have pretty long hair  and i liked it because i never had to do anything to it to make it look good.  my hairs still kinda long, but i don't like it as much so i am waiting for it to grow back.  it was really long in the back sorta like a mullet but i also had pretty long hair in the front.

[Blackthorne]

Have you ever heard of a "bullet"?  It's when a person with a bald head has a mullet.  Thus the term, BULLET.

(Posted on: July 28, 2011, 05:52:16 PM)

I remember pogs!  I used to play that back in high school.  It's too bad that I really sucked at it though.  Those little cardboard chips and those big glass anchors that you would drop on the chips- at least I think that's what I would do... it's been such a long time.

I've usually heard the "Bald Mullet" refered to as a "Skullet". 


Bt

[Baggins]

I'm a straight male, but I find myself often fascinated by fashion, hairstyles, trends, etc, and if you guys want.

To quote Shakespeare;

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

But seriously, sexuality doesn't really define a person's personal interests (it might for some, but definitely not most). There are two many negative stereotypes out there that men who are worry too much about self appearance are somehow gay or effeminate, and somehow less than man. Really we need stop pushing the stereotypes and understand each individual is different.

That being said I was passing through the South this summer in Arkansas, and at this had station was this rather effeminate attendant, looked like a redneck, had a bad mullet, a wife beater, and tight pants. Plus the cheesier gold chains outside leisure suit Larry! He walked with a streetwalker strut, and talked with a lisp. He slapped my dad on the back, and was calling 'good buddy' while explaining how to use the pump (it had some weird nonstandard payment system). The man clearly didn't know anything about fashion! He didn't stick to a single stereotype...!