Five Fits With: Youtuber Michael Messineo
The YouTube star from Melbourne chats to Esquire about his expanding cinematic universe, meeting Charli XCX and why there’s a time and place for every type of pant –
even skinny jeans
By 
WHEN MICHAEL MESSINEO decided to pivot towards creating long-form reaction recaps for his YouTube channel Mike’s Mic during the 2021 Covid-19 lockdown, it was his way of fighting the algorithm. At the time, the saturated reaction video genre consisted of creators simply sitting in front of their camera, microphone in hand, and rewatching a popular movie or TV show (copyright infringement permitting) to commentate along to, all no longer than 25-minutes in length.
But not Messineo.
He first chose to dissect all seven seasons (160 episodes) of the popular 2010s cult show Pretty Little Liars, which he filmed, produced, edited, starred in, and rolled out across four videos, each two-hours in length. In each instalment, Messineo is not sedentary, but armed with informed quips and a pointer, standing in front of a link chart, adjusting it with tags and annotations like a detective. The series has amassed 20 million views.
This trademark high-production format has also been an outlet for the Melbourne-based creator to flex his other muscles in elaborate costuming, set design, and writing (he holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering), delivered in a patois understood by a generation raised on Vine videos, Gemma Collins, and the Real Housewives. Since then, Messineo has released recaps of other pop-culture gems from the late ’90s to the early 2010s ripe for dissecting (famously Charlie’s Angels, The Devil Wears Prada, LOST), catapulting them from the archive to the front of our minds. All the while, Messineo has amassed a global audience.
Recently, Messineo ran us through five of his favourite fits, as we talked about how his creative pursuits have informed his personal style, what’s currently in his media diet, his next projects writing a script, and what it was like to ‘queen out’ with Charli XCX just before ‘brat’ took over the world.
Fit one
Esquire: There’s so much lore in the Mike’s Mic universe – your harrowing school trip to Italy and your master’s in mechanical engineering come to mind. But how would you describe Mike’s Mic to someone who hasn’t watched a single video?
Michael Messineo: My super simple elevator pitch to explain what I do is basically, ‘pop culture commentary’, which is a bit of a cop-out because ‘popular culture’ covers so many different things, but so do I. My YouTube videos tend to focus on movies, TV, music from the late 90s to the early 2010s, with an emphasis on campy-slash-silly aspects – my favourite part.
Outside of YouTube I have what I call the Mike’s Mic Cinematic Universe (MMCU – Marvel copied me), which covers . . . pretty much anything else I’ve done or anyone I’ve ever met. There’s always something ridiculous happening to me, good and bad, so anytime something happens it’s added to the lore. Some examples: my parents thinking I was being kidnapped in Italy in 2011 because I butt-dialled them on bumper cars; drawing cross-sections of weapons for my mechanical engineering lecturer; a pop star buying me my first beer . . . it’s all in the lore.
Your videos are quite lengthy, especially for reaction content. What made you pivot to long-form video?
During the 2021 lockdown I was living alone in Melbourne and had an idea to make an in-depth discussion of one of my favourite ridiculous TV shows, Pretty Little Liars. Because I was stuck at home for weeks on end it sort of turned into a way to keep myself busy working on something that I already enjoyed. Pretty Little Liars is a perfect example of the type of show I cover in the longer format – entertaining with a super convoluted plot that you wouldn’t remember watching until someone mentions something specific and you think “oh yeah, I remember that!”
It was definitely a risk, with YouTube, if you don’t post for two to three months you’d better come back with something good. I remember the first Appropriately Unhinged Recap video had a slow start for a long time, but then it really picked up as people found it. Now it has over eight million views!
My content before was more about pop culture moments and specific pieces of media rather than multiple hour discussions of entire television series. But I’d say I keep a balance between the two these days.
What’s currently in your media diet?
I love heist movies and a good whodunit. The White Lotus and Knives Out are great recent examples. I watched The Perfect Couple recently and guessed the murderer in the first episode because of the casting. I try to go to the cinema every week, and I live near the IMAX theatre so I watch pretty much every film that’s released in that format. It’s the biggest screen in the southern hemisphere! I think my next watch will be Industry or Shogun.
Fit two
When pop star Rina Sawayama was on tour last year you got to introduce her at her Melbourne show. What was that like? And can you tell us about your outfit?
So much fun, it was such a surreal experience. I remember getting an email from a member of Rina’s team saying she wanted me to introduce her on stage and I could not compute that she knew who I was, or wanted me to do that. It was actually my first ever time on stage too, so it was a bit of a ‘trial by fire’.
Rina had released a song called ‘This Hell’ which was cowboy themed so I, of course, wanted to incorporate that into my outfit somehow, hence the hat. Once I had the hat I leaned into ‘what would this pop star cowboy version of me wear on stage?’ and picked up the silk Casablanca shirt. To be honest, I’d had my eye on that shirt for ages and just needed a reason to buy it. So thanks Rina!
You also queened out with Charli XCX recently. Tell me about that encounter.
You’re absolutely right, ‘queened out’ is the correct analysis. I’d been connected with Charli online for a while but hadn’t had the chance to meet her in person and it was a perfect storm of her having just released ‘brat’ and touring it and me being in London on holiday. I went backstage before her show and we talked for a while about the album and a whole bunch of other things. She’s not only one of my favourite artists but also such a nice person.
Fit three
When did your interest in fashion begin? Can you remember when you first fell in love with clothes?
I’d say that my mum is an absolute powerhouse of personal style so I probably started by taking an interest in what she was wearing. We would also watch Project Runway all the time so I was super interested in how clothes were made. I think I started to really appreciate styling when I realised that characters in movies and TV shows were dressed in a specific way to convey something about them as a person. It was sort of like ‘oh cool, I can dress how I feel, too.’
How would you describe your style?
‘I’ve got places to be but I had enough time to pick the right jumper-slash-shoe combo.’ I’m all about sandwich dressing. Other key tenets would be a predominantly neutral outfit with a feature piece, making use of accessories, and picking a contextual pant. There’s a time and place for every type of pant, even skinny jeans.
What was your first significant fashion purchase?
I actually think it might have been the Carrera sunglasses I bought during that 2011 trip to Italy. Talk about an MMCU relic. Otherwise I’d say maybe the JW Anderson knitted patchwork sweater I bought for the last part of my Appropriately Unhinged Recap of Pretty Little Liars. I looked around for a jumper that had all the colours of string I used in the visual aides for that series and that one was perfect.
Fit four
Has living in Melbourne had an impact on your personal style?
Absolutely! There are so many cool people around and so many well-executed styles so there’s always inspiration.
Who are your personal style icons? What do you like about their style?
My mum is number one of course. I love watching K-pop music videos and there’s some absolutely killer fashion happening there – some personal favourites would be [girl group] XG and [boy band] NCT 127. It’s a sort of heightened street style that really pops. Other musicians whose style I like are Peggy Gou and Tyler, the Creator. I also take inspiration from movies, so it’s great for me personally that 2000s style is having a moment again since that’s what I spend a lot of time watching.
Fit five
Any brands or designers you’re loving right now?
Andersson Bell and Casablanca would be two of my current favourites. Also love everything Jonathan Anderson [creative director of JW Anderson and Loewe] and Daniel Roseberry [creative director of Schiaparelli] do. I remember thinking ‘this feels Loewe-adjacent’ while watching Challengers and then found out Jonathan Anderson did the costuming. Kody Phillips is another one – I’ve got cargo pants and a double zip jacket from him which I love. More locally, I’ve picked up a couple pieces from Pseushi, and I head into Sucker on Johnston Street in Fitzroy every few weeks to see what they’ve got. I think most, if not all of, their items are from independent Australian designers.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Easy question because I pretty much wear this outfit all the time anyway: my Studio Nicholson pants, sneakers (not the actual running kind), a white shirt, crop jumper and then of course a hat, sunglasses and headphones. The headphones are super important. Also you’ll never catch me with sunglasses that aren’t polarised.
Can you tell me about anything you’re working on next?
I’ve got a couple long-form videos in the pipeline at the moment – LOST Season 3 and Gossip Girl season five recaps. I’m also working on one more unannounced recap series for an iconic 2000s show, which I’m thinking might be my last in the format (they’re a lot of work!).
Outside of YouTube, I’m working on some scripts – the furthest along being a sci-fi heist film. I’m quoted on my Wikipedia page – crazy – as saying that’s what I’m working on so I should probably make sure I get it done!
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