He doesn't have a mullet in the video yet though, it's a couple of years olf.
The eXile No 267 13 Jul 07
Russia's Mullet Revolution
By Yasha Levine ( yasha at exile.ru )
You thought it'd never come back. That it had passed into the dustbin of hairdo history, forever, first as an embarrassing fashion trend, then as grist for the irony mill. But you were wrong. Anyone living in Russia knows what we're talking about: The Mullet. It's back, it's everywhere, and it's bigger than ever, and more than anything, these mullets are 100% irony-free.
In the West, the mullet long ago became an overused hipster punch-line, with occasional sightings on road trips through flyover country. But not here. The mullet continues to thrive in every nook and corner of the Third Rome, especially in the capital. It stares out at you from pirate DVD kiosk windows and the passenger seats of Shawarma Shuttles. You see them everywhere: ordering oysters in high class restaurants, riding the metro, loitering around the Manezh, and, yes, enjoying the heated embrace of Russian babes.
The Russian mullet is not like the Western mullet. It lacks irony and it is here to stay. Infecting cities, towns, and villages alike, the Russian mullet signifies style and sophistication. It's mutated into several sub-species, depending on your social class.
There's the "Manager Mullet," the most popular of all. This is a low-key moderate mullet in which the back-fin extends just a bit down the neck. It's almost an I-don't-really-have-a-mullet mullet, or an I'm-making-my-best-mullet-attempt-even-thought-I-don't-have-time mullet.
Stand outside of any Moscow club, and you're bound to see the ever-popular "Fag Nation Mullet": buzz-cut on sides, hair gelled into a rooster fin on top, and a long tail of messy curls in the rear. The more flamboyant ones even have razor designs in the sides.
Student-types from the non-elitny tusovka have something between the Manager and the Fag Nation, indulging their fashion flair by playing with the temple region: throw in the gel, grow out the bangs, shorten the sides, and get more party space in the back.
As last weekend's Avant Music Festival - which Mudhoney headlined - proved, even Moscow's indie scene is mullet-heavy. Case in point: The bass player from Moi Rakety Vverk, the indie band that also opened up for Sonic Youth a few weeks back, proudly rocked a Giddy Lee-mullet. And these are the kids that are trying to import Western irony to Russia!
Racing jacket-wearing bidlo types are also experimenting with the mullet, accessorizing their closely-cropped hair with mullet drapes down the neck.
In spite of the mullet's unprecedented popularity, most Russians, including progressive indie scenesters, know very little about it. Is there a Russian word for the mullet? Is a mullet by any other name really a mullet?
To understand the Russian mullet, you have to go back to the early 1980s, to the beginning of Russia's "rock renaissance." Specifically, to Viktor Tsoi, the legendary dead front man of Kino, who sported a classic 80s I-used-to-be-stadium-rock-but-now-I'm-New-Wave mullet of the sort you'd see on a Steve Perry of Journey or a Billy Squier. The mullet somehow vibed with Tsoi's Asiatic features (he was half-Korean) and immediately spawned a trend among his millions of fans.
When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the mullet collapsed like so much inefficient state industry, giving way to the worst of the West's imports: the eurofag techno hairstyles of the 90s. Like, who can forget the Caesar?
The 21st century mullet got its start in Eurofag techno culture. According to Julia Mashnich, editor of the Russian version of Numero magazine, a French high fashion glossy, mullets made a worldwide comeback around 2001, at a time when 80s retro was becoming ironically cool. That trend didn't last long.
"As a general rule, hairstyles do not stay fashionable for more than a year," Mashnich told The eXile.
Except in Russia. By 2004, even as the cheesiest eurofags in Italy and England reshaped their mullets, here the mullet-craze was just warming up.
Why?
"Maybe Russians just have a national weakness for the mullet," Mashnich suggested, meekly.
You Say "Mullet", We Say "Dimabilan"When we hit the streets to find out why the mullet was so damn popular with the kids, we learned that, as happens with so many Western ideas imported into Russia, the mullet is no longer a mullet.
The first mulletnik we approached on the street told us, "The most fashionable haircut right now is the 'dimabilan.' That's what everyone calls it."
Dima Bilan is a 26-year-old Russian pop singer, a cheesier, fruiter version of Justin Timberlake. His mullet-sporting likeness has been plastered on every afisha in town for the past few years, but he really exploded onto Russia's music scene after taking second place at the 2006 Eurovision contest. What is most interesting is that Bilan is Caucasian - not as in "white" Caucasian, but as in "from the Caucasus" Caucasian. A Karachai to be exact, a Turkic mountain. Yup, a hachek, a black-ass. But that hasn't stopped his success. Or stopped every Russian guy, no matter how xenophobic this country claims to be, from trying to look just like their favorite hachek.
Why Dima Bilan? What's his secret? We tried contacting Bilan to ask him how he felt about being synonymous with the mullet, but his press secretary never responded.
The Bilan/mullet connection adds another unexpected layer of irony to this Mullet Expose. Just a few years ago, Dima Bilan was 20-year-old a nobody with a long metal hairdo, until he was discovered by producer Yuri Aizenshpis. The same Yuri Aizenshpis man took Viktor Tsoi to stardom in the 80s. After hooking up with Aizenshpis, Bilan cut his hair into a classic mullet.
In case you don't see it coming, we'll spell out the mullet-irony: The producer behind the Bilan sensation is the same producer who promoted Russia's original mullet star! That means Aizenshpis is responsible for not one, but two mullet crazes. Aizenshpis died a year before Bilan made it to the Eurovision, but his legacy to Russia's scalps lives on.
Bilan's mullet evolved a long way from the classic style, growing in proportion to his success. The bigger he got, the more elaborate his mullet. By the time he got to Eurovision 2006, his "bilan" was more mullet than even Billy Ray Cyrus' mullet: a big jelled peacock fin on top, techno-short on the sides, and an all-night hoedown in back. After the Eurovision contest, Bilan's "bilan" was plastered on every afisha and billboard across Russia, and beamed to millions of TVs. The dyevs loved it. And the dudes lined up to get cut just like their new favorite pop star.
Thus began the Russian dimabilan craze. Remember that the next time you see a dude in a dimabilan, which probably means the guy sitting next to you and across from you and behind you.
For all of the talk of Russia's xenophobia, every guy here is sporting a hairdo made famous by a limp-wristed Caucasian, who updated a hairdo made popular by a half-Korean. And every dyev finds this hachek/zheltokozh-inspired look utterly irresistible.
According to Lana, a stylist at the hair salon chain Persona, about one-third of all male clients ask for a dimabilan.
Persona Hair Salons: incubators of the mullet epidemic "Everyone knows the dimabilan is very fashionable and sexy," said Lana. "Men who get them are stylish and they want their hairstyle to reflect and match their fashion tastes, the clothes they wear. Most girls think it's very stylish, progressive and cool. It says a man isn't just following trends."
Ex-squeeze us?
Turns out she's right. A scientific eXile dyev opinion poll proved beyond a shadow of a doubt: the mullet is favored by the opposite sex. Out of dozens of young girls we spoke to, only one was against the mullet. Here's a sample of the rest: "I think they look cute;" "I think it looks funny, but in a attractive way;" "I think guys with mullets are more progressive;" "Super adorable!"
Meet The Mullets
Anton, 18, Student (left) Yura, 18, (right) What's the coolest haircut right now?
Yura: The Dima Bilan look.
What do you say to the stylist if you want one?
Yura: You say, "I want the a la Dima Bilan."
What does a Bilan say about a guy?
Anton: It means he wants to be fashionable.
Yura: Yeah.
Do chicks dig it?
Anton: I have no idea.
Yura: Me neither.
Have you guys scored more with chicks since you got your Bilan cuts?
Yura: I don't have a Bilan! I just have a long ponytail.
Anton: Neither do I.
Do any of your friends have Bilans?
Anton: Most guys at my school have them.
Sasha, 28, Pr Manager (left) Ksenya, 25, Radio Manager (right) What's the coolest haircut right now?
Sasha: Most men like it short.
Ksenya: I think the Dima Bilan is popular.
Do you like it?
Sasha: We think that it is fashionable.
Yasha was going to ask more, but got scared by the hostile looks he kept getting from Ksenya's "friend" Sasha.
Zarina, Pensioner (left) Raisa, Pensioner (right) What's the coolest haircut right now?
Raisa: I don't know about these things. But I saw this very cute man, he was about sixty and had beautiful silver hair, he must have been a grandfather because he had 3 young girls with him and an older one that was probably his daughter. He looked absolutely adorable, what a good-looking man he was. Very noble.... [ED: About five more minutes of this.]
Do you like the Diman Bilan?
Raisa: Oh yes! I think it looks great on many people.
Zarina: Uh-huh.
Kostya, 15, Student, Ethnic Korean (left) Stas, 19, Student (right) What's the coolest haircut right now?
Stas: the Dima Bilan haircut.
Do you think chicks dig the Bilan?
Stas: I'm not sure. I never talked to them about it.
How long have you guys had the Bilans?
Stas: I don't have the Bilan look.
Kostya: Neither do I. I've had this look for over two years.
You guys sporting the "Tsoi look?"
Kostya: I'm not copying anyone. I just like this style.
Stas: Me neither.
Tatyana, 18, Studying To Be Manager Do you like the Dima Bilan look?
Yes, I really like them.
What does a Bilan say about a guy?
It says they are progressive and fashionable.
What kind of Bilan do you like?
I like it very short up on top and very long in the back, with curls.
Lena, 20, Music Student Do you think the dimabilan cut is fashionable? I don't believe in fashion.
Ok, what kind of haircut do you like?
I like bald guys.
Uh, thanks. What about the dimabilan?
A lot of dudes have it, so girls probably like it. Personally, I think it makes men look like faggots.
Respect!
Thanks.
Would you sleep with a guy who sported a Bilan?
Fuck no. God help me if I do.
Dimity, Office Worker, Age Unspecified (w/mullet) Denis, Young Professional (w/o Mullet) What's the coolest haircut right now?
Dimity: There's one with the hair short upfront and long in the back.
Do you know what it's called?
No.
But it looks sort of like yours?
Dimitry: No! No way. I used to have one a while back. But I had to make it shorter to get a job in an office.
But your hair is short upfront and long in the rear, it looks like a mullet.
Dimitry: Yeah, but that's not the same.
What does this type of haircut say about a man?
Dimitry: It doesn't say anything. Everyone wears it.
Denis: I think mostly raver types wear it.
Dimitry: I don't agree, I think it's mainly for the older crowd. The younger kids get the EMO hair cut, you know, with the long bangs to one side.
Do chicks dig it?
Dimitry: I don't know.
Dima: I haven't never haven't any complaints.
To Dima: Yeah, but you don't have a mullet.
Dima: (shrugs)
Kirill, 24, Photographer What do you call your hair cut? I don't know.
How did you decide to get it?
Well, I went to the Persona salon and in the process of the haircut I decided that I wanted something like this.
How long did it take to cut it?
About 45 minutes.
How much did it cost?
About a 1,000 rubles.
Do you like your Bilan?
First of all, this isn't a Bilan.
But you have the hair long in back and short up front.
Yeah, but my haircut is different. The hair in the back is more like a Buddhist ponytail. That's what the stylist said.
What are guys saying when they get a Bilan?
I'm not sure, but being associated with Dima Bilan is not good.
Do girls like it?
I don't know.
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