We are two months into the new year and there's already a fashion trend that is bursting at the seams. The Mob Wife aesthetic, a complete contrast to last year's quiet luxury, is bold, messy, and unapologetic. What is it? Inspired by Italian-American culture, specifically that of New York and New Jersey, the aesthetic comes from women and icons like Michelle Visage and Teresa Giudice, and also from women who played fictional mob wife characters like Drea de Matteo and Edie Falco in The Sopranos, Sharon Stone in Casino, and Lorraine Bracco in Goodfellas, to name a few.
The trend, however, went viral on TikTok sometime last year when user and self-described “mob wife CEO” Sarah Arcuri posted a video on the basics of the aesthetic. What are the basics of the aesthetic you ask? Well, when it comes to the fashion side of things, the mob wife fashion trend is essentially all about black leather, animal prints, faux (or real) fur, oversized sunglasses, gold jewellery, messy updos, and of course pencil heels and knee-high boots.
On the beauty side of things, you'll spot dirty smokey eyes done roughly with deep charcoal and grey tones, bold winged liner, perfect soft-matte complexion with little to no shine, heavy bronzing to give that 'woke up as a baddie' vibe, hardly any blush because soft isn't the look we are going for, and a perfectly overlined pout that's either nude or deep red. The makeup is supposed to be perfect but no-so-perfect in the sense it should look a little lived-in. As far as your hairdo and nails are concerned big, bold and beautiful is the mantra with voluminous curls and long glossy nails.
What we love the most is that the entire aesthetic is basically 90s supermodel — think Kate Moss and Yasmeen Ghauri — mixed with super cheeky patterned maximalism of the early 2010s. Now if the mob wife aesthetic is something that is right up your alley, or you're particularly fascinated with the micro-trends within the larger trend, like animal prints or leather, then here's how you can nail the mob wife aesthetic in 2024.