What Can We Learn From The Mob Wife Aesthetic?

This week / last week / maybe even next week, you’ll read a surfeit of stories about the mob wife aesthetic, and a few about the mob girlfriend aesthetic, which some argue is ‘better’ than the mob wife aesthetic, and who are we to disagree? Who are we to do anything other than nod our heads mutely, our giant earrings jingling and our beehives bobbing in approval.

Obviously, the trend came from TikTok, but it may as well have come from a fast fashion retailer desperate to shift all that garish, OTT Christmas stock that didn’t get bought up over party season. Does anyone want to dress like a mob wife in January? Of all months?

No matter: the MWA is a PR dream. I’ve been pitched the kind of merch that usually gets ignored this month in favour of wellness leggings and goji jumpers (not actual things – or are they? Nothing would surprise me any more). What can we learn from the mob wife aesthetic? Answer: that January is no longer a designated Health Month. Maybe Jan 1st – 10th at a push, but so fast is the trend cycle now that a month is too long to adhere to any one theme, especially wellness. Bring on the leopard print. Actually, don’t.