mob wife

English

Etymology

The aesthetic originates in videos posted by TikToker @thesweetpaisana beginning in October 7, 2022, and was popularized on TikTok around December 2023 and January 2024. The aesthetic was inspired by a typical depiction of a wife of a Mafia boss in media such as The Godfather (1972) and The Sopranos (1999–2007).

Noun

mob wife (plural mob wives)

1. (neologism) A person exemplifying a fashion aesthetic characterized by gaudy and ostentatious clothing, such as fur coats, designer bags, platform heels, and animal print.
   • 2024 January 23, “What Does the "Mob Wife Aesthetic" Actually Mean?”, in Harper's Bazaar‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Hearst Magazine Media, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-02-28:

     As Trivieri, who is of Italian descent, points out in her video, the mob wife aesthetic is a welcome pendulum swing away from what she calls the "clean girl aesthetic"—a minimal, Sofia Richie–esque beauty look and stealth wealth style. It also follows the rise in popularity of girlish aesthetics in general, from coquette to Barbiecore. The mob wife, by comparison, is a little more grown up. It's right there in the name: She's a wife! She's not a girl; she's a woman.

   • 2024 February 27, Georgia Day, “J Lo Does Muted Mob Wife And We're Here For It”, in Vogue‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-02-28:

     When it comes to hair, J Lo frankly could have written the Mob Wife manual, so perfect are her honeyed lengths.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see mob,‎ wife (i.e., the wife of a Mafia boss).
   • 2015 February 20, Roberto Saviano, “The Complex Role of Women in the Italian Mob”, in VICE‎^[3], archived from the original on 2024-02-24:

     Apart from a few rare exceptions, the mafiosa exists only in relation to her man. Without him, she's like an inanimate being—only half a person. That's why mob wives appear so unkempt and disheveled when accompanying their men to court—it's a cultivated look meant to underscore their fidelity.

See also

• Imeldific