It’s officially a flag-lowering ceremony for all our clean-girl mood boards. They are being replaced with a sexier, raunchier, and flashier Mob Wife aesthetic. Fashiongram’s latest obsession is all about channelling your inner Gloria Delgado-Pritchett from The Modern Family. Entering as this year’s first fashion trend, our Instagram’s Explore page is drowning in this new style era.
Decoding The Term
In case you are not familiar with the term, the Mob Wife aesthetic is more than a look or style moodboard; it’s about the vibe of the person carrying it. The aesthetic is a mixture of old money or quite luxury, ’90s supermodel glamour with a slight dose of fur (always faux) or leather trench coats, and sultry animal pattern-mixing along your 2010s throwback feel wardrobe.
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The Mob Wife aesthetic liberates you from the perfect checklist of the clean girl core, now if you spill some wine on your coat, you don’t fuss about it. The colour palette for this trend is tilted towards monochromes and dark tones like jet black, beige, and white. The Mob Wife aesthetic splurges on pre owned vintage culture, like thrifted faux fur items and antique gold jewellery, showcasing a flashy image of the wearer screaming in loud luxury.
Whether it’s classic YSL coats, Chanel tweed skirts, Dior hats, or an exhilarating new look from Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli Haute Couture showcase, this is about all things chic, but with a camp factor. Italian fashion house Versace has been serving this aesthetic ever since their Spring 1992 collection by Gianni Versace.
Pop Culture
Just like any other fashion trend of the past few years, this one also comes with its own pop culture history. The Mob Wife aesthetic is highly inspired by The Sopranos, Goodfellas, The Godfather, Peaky Blinders, and other portrayals of a stylish vision of Mafia, Italian, or more European families. Although these movies and shows are highly male-dominated, these particular aesthetic seekers envision the women in more contrast with the screen script with an extravagant taste.
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The Mob Wife aesthetic also sparked a debate over its name, as it is defined as the mafia wife needing a man, which is now more of a fun take on men doing the dirtier work and women just living the life. A quintessential mob wife has opinions of her own, and she doesn’t like people wasting her energy. She is someone who rocks a fresh set of French tips with wine in her hand. When in doubt, look up to mob wife idols like Mona Lisa Vito, Adriana La Cerva, Elvira Hanco*ck, and Carmela Soprano.
Closer home, Rekha’s iconic wardrobe from Khoon Bhari Mang can be considered the revenge version of this trend; stunningly ahead of its time. So, if you are sold to give this trend a chance here are some recent celebrity looks to serve as an inspiration:
Jennifer Lopez
JLO’s Instagram feed has several looks to pin in your mob wife mood board. She kickstarted the haute couture week in a fur illusion coat for Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli showcase. The coat was made with 7,000 real rose petals kept fresh and alive by sugar water, also known as hummingbird nectar. She styled it opaque black tights and heels.
Rihanna
Pop icon Riri knows how to put her own spin on any classic silhouette. The Wild Thoughts singer arrived channeling Mob Wife aesthetic at the Dior Spring/Summer 2024 haute couture show donning the maison’s signature look but adding her own tomboy element with a baseball cap. Rather than going for a typical wool or cotton twill, she picked the set made out of nylon with an oily moire-printed midi skirt and the puffy jacket, which was cinched at the waist with a narrow black leather belt. A big slay!
Hailey Bieber
Mrs. Bieber has been photographed nailing Mob Wife aesthetic on multiple occasions, but this particular nerdy take stands out the most from her look book. She picked out her a black YSL jersey mini dress with ruched details on the sides and across the bustier. Rhode founder added the main drama with a jet-black warm faux-fur coat from the French fashion house while accessorising with tinted rectangular-frame sunglasses, strappy black heels, and sheer tights.
Sonam Kapoor
Bollywood’s favourite fashion girl, Sonam Kapoor, was lensed in a Sari-inspired Rick Owens gown from a few seasons ago at the ELLE List 2024. She added some extra touches with a leather jacket and gloves, going fully goth mafia vibes.
Sofia Vergara
Sofia Vergara can be hailed as the modern flag bearer of this trend, as she has been donning colourful prints and belted shirts on Modern Family for a long time. Miss is now serving more Mob Wife aesthetic with a capital S at the press tour of her new Netflix limited series Griselda. Leaving the trench coats in the almirahs, she opted for this body con Dolce and Gabbana look while posing on an animal-printed sofa. Queen moves only.
Dua Lipa
The pop sensation donned a skimpy, translucent maxi dress that had a beaded fringe in the shape of a chevron which added a bit of movement. A keyhole secured by a gold clasp completed the ensemble. The Levitating singer completed the look with a huge coat instead of a bra, and she wore a pair of high-waisted black briefs underneath her sheer dress.
Deepika Padukone
Deepika donned the style before it became a trend. For Louis Vuitton’s Fall/Winter fashion showcase, she served an effortless look with a well-constructed leather jacket dress and patterns of lace tights that peeked from under knee-high boots.
Also, read: From Pinterest Boards To The Red Carpet, Here’s How Ribbons And Bows Have Taken Over Fashion
