The Story Behind Sadie Sink’s New Rockabilly Mullett

Sadie Sink’s copper waves have a fanbase all their own. Throughout Sink’s ascension—from her turn as Max, giving us one of the most memorable Stranger Things scenes ever, to red carpet princess, to roles in award-winning projects The Whale and Taylor Swift’s All Too Well—her red lengths have served (and served), lending to memorable beauty moments on and offscreen. So when hairstylist Tommy Buckett was asked to chop Sink’s mane for a forthcoming role, he was a bit unsure about the public’s reaction.

 “When I was doing it, I was thinking that people are either gonna love me or absolutely hate me,” says Buckett. Of course, the answer is love—Sink’s new floppy, shaggy mullet, which pulls influence from the ’70s, ’90s, and more, is a refreshing rockabilly fever dream, and fans are responding accordingly. Ahead of the cut, Sink supplied references from the ’90s, centering androgyny and a slicked-back appeal, along with allusions to David Bowie and Mick Jagger.

“Jane Fonda was known in the 1970s for cutting all of her hair off in Klute, and it was kind of a shaggy mullet, but I really liked the idea of ’90s reference to Winona Rider in the front, where you can kind of flip it around and flop it back and it’s kind of like a cool longer pixie,” says Buckett, who opted to meld the two—along with extra It girl inspo via model Freja Beha Erichsen—for a more mutable mullet. “You can just kind of throw it around back and forth; it can be styled any way you want, but it really looks good back off your face with a little height and with the sides kicking out,” he says. 

Though the results are dramatic in nature, they also feel entirely on time. The mullet and its many iterations have been part of the conversation for a few years now, and a soft and stylable version feels like a power move for an ingenue on the rise. “As soon as we did it, she was like, ‘Oh my god, I feel like myself. I’m not freaked out by cutting it all off—hair grows,’” relays Buckett. As far as the hue goes, though? “I would never,” he says, effusing over the coppery red with natural golden tones. “I’ve had this conversation with her many times, like, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let anyone color your hair. You’ll never get it back.’”