American Mullet

Mullets.
You've seen these haircuts.  Short on the top, often with buzzed sides, and left long in the back or with just a small tail of hair (often called a rat tail).  If you still don't know what I'm talking about you can click here to see photos.
Though the mullet was most popular during the 80s and early 90s, this hairstyle has developed somewhat of a cult following in pop culture over the past few years.  Do an Internet search for "mullets" and a handful of websites turn up which in turn glorify and mock this utterly unique hairstyle.

The documentary film American Mullet explores this hairstyle phenomenon by addressing topics such as:
What is the origin of the mullet?
What kind of people have mullets?
Why do they have mullets?
How is the mullet perceived by others in our society?

The makers of American Mullet travel the country seeking out those with mullets as well as soliciting the opinions of pretty much anyone who will talk to them in an attempt to answer these questions.
It's safe to say that the mullet will probably never be accepted by most as an attractive hairstyle, but the most interesting thing this film reveals is that, contrary to the (seemingly popular) belief that people with mullets are just cluelessly out of date, the mullet wearer often has very specific motivations for their choice of hairstyle.  Whether it's simply to be unique, challenge social norms, or identify with a particular social group or ethnicity, the mullet wearer is probably far more aware of the politics and social repercussions of physical appearance than most people- after all, it takes a certain amount of bravery to choose a look that most people would consider anachronous at best.
What is also discovered is that this particular hairstyle is not limited to one specific type or group of people.  There seem to be as many different people who wear mullets as there are styles of mullets:  rock music fans, country music fans, lesbians, children, artists, soccer players, wrestlers and bodybuilders, Native Americans and Latinos, and even a mullet-sporting doctor are interviewed.
Some see their mullets as practical- a way to have long hair without the maintenance or a way to appear professional while still maintaining a unique identity. A twenty-something female artist wears a spiky pink-tinted mullet- she sees it as form of self-expression, of being different and unique.  She says she likes to wear things that don't quite go together, as she wears a blue and silver 80s formal with ballooning cap sleeves and a tiara. A man in a sleeveless denim shirt and short brown mullet is a deadringer for the country singer Billy Ray Cyrus (in the 90s), though he says that he had his mullet first.  Nevertheless, he boasts about the look-alike contests he's won.  In Las Vegas a woman in a sleeveless t-shirt wears a black spiky mullet resembling that of an 80s rocker.  She laughs about being mistaken for Joan Jett at a concert and says she likes both the music and the aesthetic of 80s women rockers.
The film delves into the popularity of the mullet among many lesbians.  A lesbian woman in a suit and brightly colored polka-dot tie talks about how the mullet as neither a predominantly "male" or "female" hairstyle is a way of using appearance to challenge the gender binary.  Among lesbians the mullet can also serve as a means of identifying oneself or others as a lesbian, as well as creating a sense of unity within the lesbian community.
The mullet is also a popular hairstyle among Native Americans as well as some Latinos.  Native Americans often wear their hair long in the back as a tribute to their ancestors.  And in Latin America, the mullet hearkens back to the indigenous Mayan and Aztec peoples, although one man says with a wide grin that he keeps his because women love his long hair.

And now, courtesy of YouTube, I bring you a fun little song all about mullets from the Beastie Boys.

Click below to hear "Mullet Head"

(*Disclaimer: This is not an actual Beastie Boys video. I'm not sure that there is an actual Beastie Boys video for this song.)

And here are the lyrics, in case you're wondering:

You're coming off like you're Van Damme
You've got Kenny G, in your Trans Am
You've got names like Billy Ray
Now you sing Hip Hop Hooray
Put your Dakleys and your stone wash on
Watching MTV and you mosh on
#1 on the side and don't touch the back
#6 on the top and don't cut it wack, Jack

Shiny chrome rims never rusted
Driving through the tunnel, you might get busted
Never trusted, Mullet head
You know you took that girl to bed
Cruising 8th Street Saturday night
Trying to find a head shop, looking to fight
You've got that stonewash derriere
Spike the top because the week-end is here

You wanna know what's a mullet? well
I got a little story to tell
About a hair style, that's way of life
Have you ever seen a Mullet wife?

Yo, take a chill B, check out my Spillbee
'Cause you don't know about the Mullet head
Cruise in my Iroc, stonewash on my cock
Got it like that 'cause I'm the Mullet head
Put me on trial 'cause I'm worth your while
Pass me the comb 'cause I'm the Mullet man

Read the New York Post, read a story
About Joey Buttafooco in all his glory
They said he tried to freak it with a high school girl
Pimpin' Amy Fisher to the rest of the world
A real lover man, a real Cassanova
Joey got horny and now he's over
Amy got pissed, shot his wife
Joey gest to jail for the rest of his life

Cut the sides, don't touch the back 

The real price of cheap fashion

Forever 21 peddles trendy clothing at bargain basement prices, but what are you really paying for?

1. Forever 21 sells sub-par quality clothing, poorly constructed with cheap materials.

Yes this dress, top, skirt, pant is cute… but it’s not going to look so cute after a couple of washings when the fabric pills, the dye bleeds, and the seams tear and fall out.

You’re saving money now, but you’re actually paying more over the long term by having to continually replace shoddy clothing. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-black/boycott-forever-21_b_147973.html

From consumeraffairs.com:

“The poor quality of clothing this chain offers has gone from acceptable to waste. What this chain sells is junk clothing, which falls apart or shrinks in the washer after its first use. I purchased over $100 worth of clothing. First sanitary thing I do is wash them before wearing. After pulling them out, every single garment/sweater/top had shrunk. After complaining about it to the store, they would not take it back since its been "used", meaning washed. What is worse, there is absolutely no returns on any merchandise for original payment type. Meaning, I will never get my money back on any return except for store credit in the form of a gift card. Why? Because they know the stuff they sell is junk; and they are ripping consumers off, knowing that what they purchase in their stores will not last one day.”

Forever 21’s junk quality clothing coupled with a no refunds return policy means you are being blatantly and unapologetically ripped off.

2. Forever 21 supports unethical, unfair, and illegal labor practices.

How do you think they can afford to sell their clothing so cheap?  In addition to using poor quality materials and construction, Forever 21 subcontracts the making of their garments to third-party garment manufacturing companies.  In turn, these third party manufacturing companies outsource their work overseas to poor and developing countries where manufacturing and labor costs are dirt cheap and workers are abused and exploited.  This means that…

In a time of serious economic uncertainty and rampant unemployment, Forever 21 and similar companies are essentially giving the middle finger to the American economy and by extension to the American people.  Instead of paying a little more to keep manufacturing in the U.S., thus providing jobs and supporting the domestic economy, Forever 21 chooses to send much of its manufacturing overseas.  Maybe this wouldn’t even be so bad if the garment workers in Bangladesh and other countries were actually being paid a realistic living wage

and didn’t have to work in sweatshop conditions, at least then one could say they were perhaps making a positive impact on the economy and way of life in the “third world”.   

      Of course, even if Forever 21 were to move all of its manufacturing to the U.S., it wouldn’t mean that they wouldn’t continue their intolerable labor practices. 

     

Even in its U.S. factories in Los Angeles, poor and immigrant women are being exploited in the name of cheap fashion. 

     

From http://www.39thandbroadway.com/hate-21/:

      ‘…Forever 21 has been taken to the California Supreme Court regarding its unfair labor practices repeatedly.  As one factory worker Guadalupe Hernandez explained she earned, “$4 per hour working 10 hours a day 6 days a week in a factory with no running water and no bathroom.”’

      Of course Forever 21 has tried to claim ignorance about its flat-out unconscionable labor practices because it outsources its manufacturing, but clearly Forever 21 hired the third party manufacturer.  Should they not bear some responsibility for researching the manufacturer’s labor practices before contracting with the company?  This is what a responsible company would do, but obviously Forever 21 and companies of its ilk DO NOT CARE.  And why should they care as long as they continue to turn a profit?

            http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=792

3         Forever 21 blatantly rips off other designers.

There’s a difference between imitation and flat-out copying of another person’s work.  Anna Sui, Diane von Furstenburg, and Betsey Johnson, are among those whose designs Forever 21 has blatantly carbon copied (albeit with much poorer quality).  Now this may not seem like a big deal in regard to prominent and successful fashion designers who already make scads of money, but…

Forever 21 has also ripped off the work of smaller, independent designers.

            Forever 21 has been sued multiple times for intellectual property violations.

However this really hasn’t put a stop to the company’s practices since Forever 21 is a multibillion dollar company.  Forever 21 has been sued approximately 50 times and because they have the money, they simply settle out of court and continue with business as usual.

           

http://jezebel.com/5822762/how-forever-21-keeps-getting-away-with-designer-knockoffs

http://jezebel.com/5821563/forever-21-gets-sued-for-copying%E2%80%94again

4. Forever 21 does not practice what it “preaches”.

By now most people are aware of the ubiquitous “John 3:16” covertly printed on the bottom of each of Forever 21’s bright yellow shopping bags.  

From http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/23/business/fi-forever23:

‘The inscription is "evidence of their [the company owners, Don and Lin Sook Chang] faith and their commitment to God," Senior Vice President Larry Myer said.’

The Changs have given millions to their church and attend services and they have gone on mission trips to several different countries, but there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to their faith and their business practices.  It doesn’t seem that blatantly ripping off consumers with inferior goods, exploiting workers, and unapologetically violating intellectual property laws by copying other designers is a very Christian way to conduct business.

Conclusion:

Forever 21 is not the only company guilty of unethical business practices and by law corporations can only be driven by profit.  Right now this is how they profit.  

But you and I don’t have to buy into it.


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Epilogue:

As stated above, Forever 21 is not exactly unique in its business practices; however I chose to single out this particular clothing retailer because never in my history of shopping have I encountered such a proliferation of cheap, poorly made clothing being marketed as "fashion" as at Forever 21.  It was during the rainbow-colored acid wash jeans trend of a couple years back that I was lured in with the promise of trendy clothing for cheap (specifically purple straight-legged jeans).  I bought a few other things from there: a black sweater-coat that pilled after one wash, a gray and black long-sleeved tee printed with an ornate fleur d' lis-esque leaf pattern (also pilled). Then one day I bought a black lace slip with built in bra without noticing that only one cup had underwire!  That was the last straw.

By the way, the aforementioned purple jeans are now buried in the back of my closet.  They never did fit quite right.