Inside ‘Europe’s Biggest Mullet Festival’

This article originally appeared on VICE Belgium.

The mullet is no joke. That’s the message I get from the vast majority of people here at the Festival de la Coupe Mulet – which the organisers claim is Europe’s largest festival dedicated solely to the infamous haircut. For some, the hairstyle is a serious act of rebellion against uniformity, and they have gathered here to celebrate it. But most just like the way it looks.

The original plan was for 30-odd friends to meet up, hang out and smoke weed in an open field. But everything changed when the teaser for the mullet-themed get together went viral. “When that happens, there are two things you can do,” says Sarah Sleiman, one of the 25 organisers. “You can cancel the event, or do whatever it takes to make it a success. We decided to do the latter.” That’s how 1,500 business-in-the-front-party-at-the-back enthusiasts ended up in a park, sporting their favourite mullet.

Sleiman has offered to show me around. Together we run into six members of the Gustave Brass Band, who all met when they were studying to become bio-engineers. The mullet, they say, is a visual representation of their wider personal ambitions, and how they plan to fight back against what society expects of them. “With this hairdo, you show that you don’t care about how you look,” one of the band members explains. A mullet is an island of freedom in an ocean of conformity. Our ultimate goal is to escape the system as it currently stands…and move in the direction of small scale farming.”

The 1980s were the mullet’s golden years, with icons like David Bowie and Andre Agassi rocking the hairstyle. But things have changed. “It’s no longer a popular style,” says one of the hairdressers at the Cut Shop salon, which has been set up to give free haircuts to inspired festival goers that want to try a mullet on for the first time. “We were afraid not many people would have the guts,” Sleiman tells me. “But we were wrong – the line a the front of our salon is out of control.”

Later, I talk to Mathias and Johannes, who only decided to get their mullets last week. “We both had long hair – but when we heard about the festival, we cut the top part off,” says Johannes, before admitting that the “mullet is only a phase.” Next week the boys plan to cut off all their hair and donate it to the breast cancer charity Think Pink.

The real star of the day is Gauthier Istin – Michel Mullet to his friends – of the band BB Michels. Looking like a full-on Viking, Istin competes in the ‘Most Beautiful Mullet Competition’ – easily beating the other 32 contenders in the long mullets category. The prize? A statue of the virgin Mary – because, of course, mullets are seen as holy here.

Istin started growing out his impressive ginger mullet a year go. “For me, discrediting yourself by way of your own looks is the ultimate form of freedom,” he tells me. “Plus, it’s a great way to connect with other people. If someone starts talking to me, we immediately have something fun to chat about.”

When it’s time for BB Michels to take the stage, Michel Mullet makes his way towards the stage on an old moped. With his handmade leather jacket, screaming voice and dance moves that would make Mick Jagger erupt in a jealous rage, he makes the entire crowd go wild. Istin is joined on stage by Agathe – a professional gymnast who shoots fireworks out of her leather bra cups. She runs around the stage scaring the audience with an S&M whip, a gun and a chainsaw.

And while Istin takes out his harmonica to shower us with some country and hard rock, a man in a Mexican wrestling mask and tight white underpants shows off his best dance moves while slurping from a bottle of whiskey and spitting the booze into audience.

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