Is it ‘mob wife aesthetic’ or just inspiration from my Italian Great-Grandmother? (2024)

I found it very interesting to see the surge in ‘mob wife’ inspired looks at the beginning of the year. While it made me happy to think that if I wore a huge fur animal print coat and it was trendy maybe people wouldn’t look at me strangely (a huge fur coat definitely wouldn’t turn heads in a big city, but it might in my smaller agriculture town, it might) I almost felt a need to gate-keep the style and have it not become an oversaturated trend.

I feel like the mob wife aesthetic has already started to fade away. I do still wonder why that became the start of a trend in the first place. Did people actually want to be a mob wife? Have they ever seen The Sopranos? Drea de Matteo, the iconic Adriana Le Cerva on The Sopranos, was recently interviewed by Vanity Fair where she posed the question, “Does anybody really want to be a mob wife? Do you know what part of the aesthetic is?”. Go watch The Sopranos, look at Carmela and Tony’s relationship, and you’ll understand why she poses that question.

I do understand the intrigue when it comes to fashion though. The look is extremely different than the super-trendy clean-girl aesthetic that people have been chasing for the past few years. The mob wife aesthetic would be better off being called the Italian American girl aesthetic. This way we could just chase the fashion looks and not the men that come along with being a mob wife.

I come from an Italian American family and am lucky enough to have seen pictures of my very Italian great-grandmother. By her fur coat collection I unfortunately do not have access to, I could tell she dressed like your typical Italian American lady. I am lucky enough to have a few of her old Gucci purses and her old jewelry. I have yet to ask for her pinky rings that have her initials on them, but I think that is something I want to ask if I could wear. My mother has a gorgeous pair of Gucci knee-high heeled boots that were hers that I wish would fit me, but alas my huge feet would ruin them.

Like a typical Italian grandmother, my Nana gifted me my own horn/cornicello charm when I turned 18 that now sits on my Miraculous Medal necklace my Mother gifted me when I was 16. Along with the horn necklace better known as the why are you wearing a golden pepper around your neck charm, my nana gifted me matching horn earrings to protect me from the Malocchio, obviously. No evil eye over here.

My fashion fluctuates on the daily, somedays I want to be a cool French girl, somedays I want to dress like Sofia Richie, others I want to dress like a stylish New Yorker, and then others I want to go full force into the gody Italian girl look. My every day is not what would now be recognized as ‘mob wife’, but some days it is.

I came across many videos of Italian American women hating that this ‘aesthetic’ was possibly becoming a trend. I understand where they were coming from for sure, but in the end, I didn’t mind it all. Just as long as it wasn’t overdone like bows were.

I think the glorification of being a ‘mob wife’ is maybe what was ruffling some feathers. I don’t think the aesthetic means that they ACTUALLY want to be a mob wife, it’s just dressing like one. I do see where some Italian American women are coming from with their annoyance of this as they don’t want to be seen as following an ‘aesthetic’ when they were dressing this way before.

The title of this read is ‘Is it ‘mob wife aesthetic’ or just inspiration from my Italian Great-Grandmother?’ and the answer is that it is not the ‘mob wife aesthetic’ for me. I dressed this way long before this ‘trend’ became a thing and will dress this way long after (I say in the most non-pick-me girl way). Am I annoyed this became an ‘aesthetic’? No, not really. I feel like people can dress however they want. If people find inspiration in the way Italian Americans like to dress, then so be it.

I find inspiration from various French girls, Scandinavian girls, and 90’s New Yorkers. What’s the big deal if people find inspiration from Carmela Soprano? At the end of the day, no one likes to see a trend get oversaturated, but with the infiltration of microtrends due to TikTok and fast fashion, it is more common now. I understand not wanting the way you dress to become oversaturated, but once the trend starts there is really nothing you can do about it. A trend is a trend, and if your fashion is good enough to become ‘trendy’ then you should feel pretty good about that.

One of the main takeaways from this little rant is no, you probably don’t want to be an actual mob wife. You just want to dress like one and that’s great. Welcome to the cool Italian girl's fashion club. While we do take inspiration from Monica Bellucci and Carmela Soprano, we also take major inspiration from our classy, elegant Italian elders.

Buy that animal print coat, get yourself a vintage Gucci bag, a pinky ring with your initials on it, and wear a cornicello if you want to! Just don’t buy one for yourself, someone else needs to buy it for you to keep the Malocchio away ;). You can always be an honorary Italian girl, I promise you it’s not just the fashion that is great!

If you are looking for mob wife/Italian girl inspiration, follow me on Pinterest!

Love,

The Diaries

References: Vanity Fair Via: TikTok