A hairstyle where hair from the top of the head is tied into a knot placed high on the back-center of the skull, often used as a visual marker of hipster fashion.

Where did Man Bun come from?

The topknot form dates to ancient China and Edo-period Japan, but the modern Western trend picked up after David Beckham wore one in 2003 and the term appeared on Urban Dictionary in October 2010.

What does Man Bun mean?

It refers both to the literal hairstyle and, culturally, to the bearded Brooklyn hipster archetype it became associated with through 2012 New York Times trend coverage.

How do you use Man Bun?

Online, it typically shows up as a visual gag, from Tumblr fan blogs of attractive men with buns to Photoshops of world leaders sporting the style in DesignCrowd's 2015 contest.

Is Man Bun still popular?

The style hit peak visibility in 2015 with BuzzFeed lists, Vox explainers, and viral prank videos, and it stayed a recognizable classic look after the trend cycle cooled.

Man Bun

2010fashion trendclassic

Published September 5, 2026

The man bun is a hairstyle where hair from the top of the head gets tied high on the back-center of the skull, popularized in Western fashion during the early 2010s. What started as a Brooklyn hipster look spread through celebrity adoption, Tumblr fan blogs, and eventually spawned Photoshop contests putting the style on world leaders.

fashion aesthetic memes body image memes photoshop memes tumblr memes early 2010s memes

Overview

The man bun, also called a top knot, is any hairstyle that gathers hair from the top of the head into a knot or ponytail placed high in the back-center of the skull1. Beyond that basic rule, the look varies wildly: undercut sides with a tight top knot, loose messy bundles, samurai-style pulled-back styles, and half-up variations all technically count1. Vox published an infographic in September 2015 mapping out the different configurations after the style hit peak visibility1.

The hairstyle carries older roots in East Asian traditions, from the topknots of the Terracotta Army soldiers buried around 210 BCE to the Edo-period chonmage worn by samurai2. Its modern Western iteration became shorthand for a very specific cultural type: the Brooklyn hipster, the bearded barista, the actor doing a serious press tour1. That layered meaning turned the man bun into both a genuine fashion trend and a visual punchline used to mock its wearers.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Urban Dictionary (term) / Tumblr (viral spread)

Date

2010

David Beckham wore a version of the man bun in 2003, giving the style an early celebrity anchor2. The earliest known online use of the term itself came on October 13, 2010, when Urban Dictionary user MelonTeets submitted a definition describing it as a "slightly greasy" hairstyle favored by hippies and "just general hotties"3.

A Twitter user posted about wearing a "MAN BUN" as early as 2011, but the phrase existed mostly on the fringes of fashion writing until mainstream press picked it up the following year1.

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How It Spread

On January 25, 2012, The New York Times published a trend piece noting that man buns were popping up in "arty neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bushwick" in Brooklyn4. The Tumblr blog "Fuck Yeah, Men With Buns" launched on March 23, 2012, followed by another blog titled "The Man Bun" that October2. A May 2014 Tumblr called "The Real Manbuns of Vancouver" documented the style in Canada with candid street photos2.

On February 18, 2015, the YouTube channel Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues uploaded a prank video showing the crew cutting off strangers' man buns with scissors5. It pulled more than 9.1 million views and 11,200 comments within seven months before the channel revealed on February 23 that the whole thing was staged2. That summer the Instagram feed ManBunsofDisneyLand launched on August 25, cataloging men with the hairstyle inside the theme park2.

By fall 2015 the trend hit saturation. BuzzFeed published "19 Pictures That Prove Man Buns Have Gone Too Far" on September 21, CollegeHumor's "Should You Wear a Man Bun?" sketch dropped on September 9, and Vox published its explainer on September 221. In October, after a Photoshopped image of Donald Trump with a man bun spread online, DesignCrowd ran a contest asking users to give the hairstyle to world leaders; a blonde-manbunned Vladimir Putin won the $280 top prize, with Kim Jong Un and Barack Obama named finalists2.

How to Use This Meme

The man bun typically works as a visual shorthand rather than a text template. People commonly deploy it in memes to signal hipster identity, gentle mockery of trendy men, or Photoshop jokes placing the hairstyle on unlikely figures like politicians, dictators, or historical portraits. The DesignCrowd "world leaders with man buns" contest is a common convention: pick a serious public figure, add the knot, let the tonal clash do the work2.