Vogue

Growing up in such a hostile environment, it is amazing that Mukuro had enough confidence to step up and escape from the Estraneos—much less become the leader between himself, Ken and Chikusa. I believe he had a notion to step up for his fallen friends, and this is what fuels his determination to take his revenge on the world. One of the stepping stones he must cross for that goal to be reached though was to find the tenth Vongola boss, and to do that was apparently to enroll into a Japanese middle school and scare the wits out of some poor pre-teens.

While I must say that Akira Amano has left many plot holes through out the entire manga (ex. Why has Ryohei never bothered to recruit Hibari into his boxing club? How DID such a clutz like Dino become a powerful mafia boss? Why does Hibari love that school so damn much?! etc. etc.) you eventually figure out one way or another, if you stay in the fandom long enough, that she subtly fills all these questions through the novels. While many have said what they want about this... she did at least bother to reveal how Mukuro took over Kokuyo Middle School. While I haven't read this novel since I only know basic Japanese, it seems Mukuro never ceased to be his sadistic-self and took over the school by force.

This was the only short explanation we received in the manga. Through some omakes (bonus comic) at the back of volume 13, the audience learns of why Mukuro had chosen Kokuyo Middle School out of all the schools out there. We know he needed to go undercover since he is an escaped convict, but why Kokuyo? It was not because the school was just outside of Namimori, or because the students there were physically strong. No, it was because of the uniform. Seeing as how this mini side-comic was drawn and published by Akira Amano herself, I deem it canon by my standards. I find this quite amusing because not only does he dress himself and his subordinates this way he also dresses any of the assassins he hires this way much to their chagrin.

         

Despite being deemed a human-hating psycho, Mukuro manages to still dress for the occasion. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to associate himself as mafia, but Mukuro has a new outfit for all of his appearances. And when I say all, I mean: ALL of his appearances. Hibari and Chrome are also notable characters who only appear from time to time like Mukuro, but their outfits almost never change, sans official artworks of course. Those two do not come off as the type to care for "trivial" things like fashion, but then again these two are characters that are far from your average teens. Mukuro, on the other hand, is always in the latest vogue. He doesn't say quite out loud, but I think we can all agree he does care about clothes and trends like any normal teenager. Heck, he even knows how to do hairstyling (re: Ken's image above)! No wonder he becomes a victim in Amano's gag mangas...

As unconventional as it may seem, his pineapple haircut actually has symbolism relating back to his personality. During the character creation of Tsuna-tachi and the Varia, their personalities were based one virtues (Tsuna & the gang) and vices (the Varia). Pineapples, in some cultures, is considered a life giving fruit. This can relate back to how he gave life to Nagi, who is now better known as Chrome Dokuro. How fitting, seeing as how his virtue is generosity.