Every which way you turn these days, things are getting increasingly wholesome.
Wellness, however you want to define it, is now being worn externally - it’s all about skincare, sustainably sourced cashmere, CBD vapes and loungewear which can also be worn as workwear. Everything is green and brown and beige and boring.
Whether it’s a result of weathering a pandemic, preparing for a financial crash, or it’s all just Gwyneth Paltrow’s fault, we have been performatively “good” for too long. It’s time to be bad. And I mean garish, gaudy, red lipstick and leopard print coat levels of bad. Sorry I can’t come to the phone right now, my earrings are too big for it to touch my ear, bad. I could cause some serious physical damage with these nails, bad.
Enter: mob wife chic. The look, marked by its reliance on animal prints, leather, costume jewellery and the colour red, is traditionally considered flashy and tasteless, especially in comparison with the pared back, health supplement chic of recent years. So how did a style associated with smoking, screaming and blue collar crime break through the mould?
The resurgence of The Sopranos could claim partial credit. The series, originally released in 1999, experienced such a revival in recent years that it spawned headlines such as “Why is every young person in America watching The Sopranos right now?” (The New York Times, Nov 2021) and “HBO Boss Shuts Down ‘Sopranos’ Revival Rumours”, (Indie Wire, Feb 2022) despite the show being over 20 years old.
But the men of The Sopranos have already had their fashion moment, just look at the world dominating return of the white vest, or Tony Soprano-style bowling shirts, or Paulie’s velour tracksuits. Heck, Tony’s fits even have a dedicated Instagram account (with 40k followers)!
It’s the women’s turn now. “I definitely think mob wife fashion is coming back,” says London based stylist Phoebe Butterworth. “Adriana [from The Sopranos], to me, is an absolute style icon, in all her glorious tackiness.” According to Butterworth, the hallmarks of mob wife style are clear: “Animal print on animal print, fur, very figure hugging silhouettes, lots of gold jewellery, and it’s got a bit of Y2K-ness to it.”
And that’s the second reason for the mob wife revival. The looks worn by Carmela Soprano and Adriana La Cerva are deeply 2000s, but they’re also alarmingly current, thanks to the popularisation of Y2K styles by the nostalgic, Depop-scrolling gen Z.
Take Olivia Rodrigo, the 19-year-old pop queen presiding over the younger generation. Last year she dressed as Michelle Pfeiffer’s Elvira from Scarface for Barbie Ferreira’s Halloween party, she’s frequently donning gowns fit for Sharon Stone’s mob wife character Ginger in Casino, and she can been seen rocking headscarves and sunglasses - a favourite of mob wives keeping a low profile - in music videos.
“It’s got this tackiness to it that’s also come back with Y2K,” says Butterworth. Plus, it’s easy to recycle a trend from the 2000s when you’re literally buying from that period. “Because people are being more conscious of what they buy and where they buy, people are wearing more vintage. By doing so you will naturally end up repeating those sorts of trends,” explains Butterworth.
Fashion historians agree. “Fashion is inherently cyclical, so ideas and styles have a way of reappearing, often as a direct response to whatever went immediately before,” says Liza Betts, Researcher and Lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion.
So, our foray into mafia style may be a reaction to the Goopiness of recent years. Betts naturally names Dolce and Gabbana as one of the main proprietors of mob wife fashion. “Dolce and Gabbana often employ a charged sexual aesthetic, so that will have played a part alongside the current 'Italian Renaissance' that’s happeing across all forms of popular culture.”
This Italian Renaissance was made no more evident than during the closest thing we’ve had to a mafia wedding in recent years: the marriage of Kourtney Kardashian to Travis Barker in Portofino last June, where the entire Kardashian Klan turned up dressed to the nines, in varying degrees of mob wifery (and most of it Dolce and Gabbana).
Basically, it was all very “you come to me, on the day of my billionaire daughter’s wedding”.
As well as the tight silhouttes, animal print and gold jewellery, there is one non-negotiable aspect of the mob wife aesthetic: Acrylic nails. In fact, Drea de Matteo (who plays Adriana in The Sopranos) once told Esquire, “I couldn’t get into character for Sopranos unless my nails were completely manicured.”
And no one knows this better than Natasha Blake, founder of Fuego Nails London, who has created nail looks for the likes of Bree Runway, Ashnikko and Mae Muller. “When you think of a mob wife, three things come to mind,” Blake says, “a cigarette in mouth, long red nails, and a bad b***h stance. She owns the room, and nails play a vital part in that.”
Blake details the “power stance” of having long, painted talons: “It’s a statement not to f*** with you,” she says. “And yes, maybe it’s toxic to glamourise an aesthetic that I guess isn’t really legal, but in the words of Tarantino when asked why he uses so much violence in his work... ‘Because it’s so much fun!’”
To get the mob wife look, Blake advises a classic white French mani with added detail, or long square nails with a Ferrari red. “There is something just so timeless about long, perfectly square, candy red nails,” she says. And if you’re looking for inspiration aside from Adriana, Blake advises looking towards Liz Hurley in Bedazzled, Anna Nicole Smith in Lethal Weapon and Salma Hayek in Desperado.
Much like the nails, the deep, reddish tones of mob wife clothing lend themselves to autumn and winter, which might explain why the trend is on the tip of our tongue right now.
Other aspects are more suited to A/W dressing too: “I personally see animal print as a massive thing for autumn and winter,” says stylist Butterworth, “I know people do it all year round but I think animal print on coats and trousers has a very different vibe to animal print on bikinis and skirts.”
As for brands to buy from if you’re looking to emulate the mob wife vibe, Butterworth thinks Emilio Pucci and Charlotte Knowles (of KNWLS) nails the aesthetic, but also recommends buying vintage - as everyone who’s repping this look seems to already be doing.
While the lifestyle of mob wifery is very much not advised, the aesthetic is back with a vengeance. So slip into your furs, treat yourself to a mani pedi and practice your best “BA DA BING” impression, because it’s mob wife winter, baby.
