Source: Santiago Felipe / Getty
When
Father Yusef Mugler isn’t influencing hair trends as
Rihanna’s hairstylist , he is scoring 10s across the board as the overall father of the
Iconic House Of Miyake-Mugler . As the fashionable patriarch of one of the most respected houses on the Ballroom scene, Yusef always knew he was destined for greatness. And he recently added another name to his moniker, executive producer. The firey father, who is known to slay the competition in the labels category, is the visionary behind the
Wow Presents Plus’ series House On Fire . While Father Yusef doesn’t mind letting his children shine, he and I agree he brings a delightfully shady energy to House On Fire. “I’m a spicy daddy for sure,” he said with a laugh.
As someone who describes himself as someone who likes to “go with the flow,” the tresses trailblazer explained “the father position just kind of like naturally happened” after the former overall father of 30 years retired.
The Ballroom Scene
Accoridng to the Miami native, he was familiar with pageant girls growing up, and when he moved to NYC, pageant girls became Ballroom girls. From there, Yusef scoped the scene and finally joined the Iconic House of Miyake-Mugler in 2005. “I joined the House and my career as a hair hairstylist kept evolving. And I think that’s inspired from Ballroom and being a creative person in the fashion and beauty industry. The ballroom scene was kind of like my little hidden treasure. I would go there and I could just be. I could live this fantasy. That was partially my reality every day.”
Yusef turned his reality into a juicy TV series that puts the House of Mugler on display. For Yusef, House On Fire presents the opportunity to spotlight the many talents of the House outside of Ballroom. “It’s so much more to us,” said Yusef. “There’s so there’s a story to be told. My idea was to empower everybody in my house to be more than ballroom. We are fabulous people who have careers and are powerhouses — outside of Ballroom and inside of Ballroom. I try to instill that in my house. I try to make sure that my house shows the rest of the ballroom that we’re more than just the floor.”
Source: Santiago Felipe / Getty
“The underground scene — we could, we could take over the world and tear it up. ‘We’ve been a part of pop culture for so long, and the influence behind so many artists and so many people like Rihanna, Beyonce, Janet… you know, ballroom has always played in the soundtrack of all those like people’s lives.”
But don’t get it twisted, when it comes to the Ballroom floor, Mugler is the standard and the house to beat. And even the fatha isn’t afraid to get out there and battle down in his category. Despite being initially hesitant to walk in a ball, Father Yusef used for passion for fashion to fuels his performances. “I would show up to balls they’d like, ‘Oh My God, you walking in labels? Are you walking this?’”
Eventually, he mustered the courage to walk. “My ego takes over and, well there’s no prisoners, everybody to get their a** handed to them,” he explained confidentally. “I just channel something. It’s a beast, tiger mentality. You leave it all on the ballroom floor.” “I love fashion so I’m gonna let you have it when it comes to that.”
Reminiscing over the fashion from his first ball, he recalls the Bally leopard slippers and Carolina Herrera skirt he wore. “That was huge — pushing the envelope, like gender bending, and creating this androgyny in that category for men.”
Yusef pushed gender boundaries with his ballroom looks. He proudly remembers steppin outside the box with a unique House of Malakai or Philip Treacy mask.
Yusef And Rihanna
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Yusef and Rihanna are a match-made in hair heaven. He’s been an force behind some of her most iconic hair styles for a majority of her career. When the two are togther, they gab “like queens,” he said.
“I think it always played like the big part in how we communicate, like the lingo and how we get things done and what inspires us. And when it’s time to get ready, we literally turn into two queens.”
He went on to describe their collaborative energy when together. So much so, they speak the same language when everyone else in the room seems left out of the conversation. “We literal literally go through the phase, like, what are we getting today ? I’m just like, it should be realness, blushes, juicy hair. And she’s like, ‘Yeah, exactly.’ People in the room are looking at us like, what the does that look like? But we know exactly what it means.”
Their friendship has led to culture-shifting moments. Yusef encouraged Ri Ri to show off her natural curls during the launch of her Fenty hair products .
When asked if he had to recommend a catoegory for Rihanna to walk, he revealed, “Ri wants to be like a voguer in her head. Like she is Tati, Brooklyn , Leoimy . Like, those are her girls. She literally in her mind, thinks that she can do exactly what they do.”
Catch House on Fire On Wow Presents + every Tuesday.
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