There is no easy way of saying this: the fashion mullet has arisen. Yes, you read that correctly. The fashion and beauty planets have aligned by offering up one of the most controversial haircuts of modern times (surpassed only by the bubble perm, which isn't strictly a haircut anyway), as a hyper-modern totem of untouchable style. 

It began with Edie Campbell, shorn at Marc Jacobs' autumn/winter13 show at the hands of Guido Palau. But, naively, we dismissed it as nothing but a quirky model overhaul (it's done incredible wonders for her career so far) but then, fellow model Lindsay Wixson followed suit, with a shaggier, less-spiky version of the mullet. Again, we shut our eyes to it, loathe to admit the reality of the mullet's return (can you blame us?). 

But, deny it, we shall no longer. Because of course, once Rihanna jumps on the horse, it becomes a concrete moment in the history of the world, ever. She's now been sporting an extreme raven-hued mullet for several weeks now (surely a personal record for her). But now, we come full circle - full fashion circle - that is; both Sandra Bullock (unlikely, but true) and Daria Werbowy sport an iteration of the fashion mullet on their respective October Vogue covers, Sandra on US Vogue and Daria on Russian Vogue, of which it becomes impossible not to evaluate the surge of power this hair cut currently yields. 

Still, the question still stands - why? (Why, why, why, why?). 'I think it goes hand in hand with the return of a shape to hair as opposed to a styling thing,' explains Luke Hersheson, the man behind Daria's cover look. 'There's just something about the thing that used to be considered quite naff, becoming beautiful.' He makes quite a strong case, but will any one actually have the chutzpah to follow through with it in reality? 'When I look around the salon, I see a lot of takes on mullets being bashed out -  I cut Bella Freud's hair into a shaggier version of the mullet, these styles don't always have to be extreme,' he assures.

Perhaps we just need a little time for our eyes to get used to it first, though.

Click the gallery for a stroll through the directional fashion mullets of our times.