Mob Wives, White Feminism & Tiktok is the new Google (almost)
Reading too deep into the supposed Mob Wives trends and more
Longer-form Mob Wives post is at end of this newsletter, but here’s an amuse bouche:
Meanwhile:
Anna Wintour was viciously on-brand when kept her sunglasses on while laying off PItchfork staff.
What remains of Pitchfork is now embedded in GQ because music is for guys.
I, too, have felt things.
I’m convinced Hilary Clinton’s cringe post was the tipping point from Oscar snub sisterhood to White Feminism critique to general eye-rolling. This little chide made me laugh:
Meanwhile, Gladstone and Ferrera were nominated and Trump took New Hampshire.
“You must really hate her,”
Trump on Nikkei Haley in New Hampshir, likely because she tigthened the race within 11 points of him.
“Something Good”
E. Jean’s response on what she’ll do with her $83.3M settlement. Am I the only one wondering if she’ll even get it?
P.S. E. Jean’s columns in Elle were always fun reading, her attorney is a badass who also won marriage equality. Yet I can’t stop thinking about the title & subtitle of this old E. Jean tome I just found:
don’t miss this
New stat: 2 of 5 American use Tiktok as a search engine.
51% of Gen Z women prefer it to Google.
Mob Wives Come for Clean Girls (Allegedly)
Is it related to Female Exhaustion, FYP & White Feminism?
Awash in my giant sweater, it was fun watching the Mob Wife trend blow up this week.
For the uninitiated: The “mob wife aesthetic” is a supposed style trend of va-va-voom excess: furs, huge sunglasses, major makeup, jewelry, etc. While brewing for a while—more on this later—the leopard prints aligned on Friday January 26 when the coverage exploded. (Blame Refinery 29’s piece mid-week).
The obvious take: So goes trend.
It’s possible the U.S. trend was seeded by Olivia Rodrigo’s 2022 Scarface Halloween costume bringing old mob movies into Gen Z/Zennial consciousness. (A movie 30 years older than she is). Reality TV, too—Lisa Barlow’s husband aside.
It’s more logically an antidote to stretch bralettes, slippers-as-shoes, griege life and dewy skin.
Aren’t we’re all bored by IG-good taste, Coastal Grandmas and quiet luxury?
The clean girl aesthetic is dull, elevating self-discipline and neutrality into an optimized blah. A rabid NYC influencer thread agrees:
If I’m bored, imagine a 24-year old. Steeped only in athleisure and snail snot sheet masks. Dating online, which seems like running a private CRM. We’ve even made polyamory boring. Some call it a calendar fetish.
Perhaps the old school sex, sensuality and dress-up drama of furs, leathers, baubles and strong lips are what America is missing: FUN.
And it tracks that R29 and a 2022 Daily Standard piece noted Mob Wife coincides with a rise of 2000s “sleaze” trends.
But what else could be going on here?
Hot Take 1: Class clash but make it fashion
Maybe Gen Z and Zennials are not just pushing back on Airspace blandness. Maybe it’s pushback on the WASPy, uptight discipline, decorum, and unachievability of quiet luxury.
In an algorithm-smoothed, virtue-signaled and optimized world, Mob is a rebellious aesthetic.
Hedonistic, loud and unapologetic in its working-class roots. It reeks of partying, sex, rule-breaking, and synthetic fragrance.
On some level, are we giving trust funds, Ivy League and tech bro casual a taloned, cocktail-ringed finger?
HT 2: The Continued Pushback on Symphisian American Womanhood
Mob Wife also says: I don’t work. (Or at least, I aspire that way.)
Is this simply the next step in younger women seeing how exhausted we elder women are and saying: Er, no. See also:
- Sugar babies
- The stay-at-home girlfriend
- Trad wives
- Millennial mom books like Screaming on the Inside & Touched Out
FWIW: Mob wives hashtags better, but I see more Mob Girlfriend than Carmela in these women.
HT 3: Throwback Weaponized Sex for Throwback Times
London nail artist Natasha Blake noted the “’power stance” of Mob nails and added:
“It’s a statement not to f*** with you… a bad b***h stance. She owns the room.”
The rollback on women’s rights could be unconsciously bouncing the zeitgeist back to the old power levers women were once limited to. Namely, sexuality, power via men and psy-ops.
HT 4: It’s Not Even A Real Trend, the Content Beast Just Won’t Sleep
For You Pages are churning smoky eyes and cheetah-ed cleavage. But beyond a few converts, will it really trend?
It’s hard to see this pulling 20-somethings who WFH and obsess about houseplants. With Gen Z going to clubs and bars at record lows, it’s a lot of prep just to hit the Starbucks drive-thru.
HT 5: It was seeded by HBO as a publicity stunt.
Love this conspiracy theory. MAX jams the algorithm!
Mob Women: More than White, More than Wives
So far, it’s been a “let's ask Francis Ford Coppola” moment (not making that up) full of Goodfellas or Sopranos references.
Yet organized crime is hardly NJ, NY or Italian/Sicilian exclusive. Nor is this aesthetic.
The trend may trace back to Russia 2021, with a homegrown “1990s Russian Gangster Wife” trend. Russian version includes a lot of fire play for some reason (?)
Soak in this quote from the Russian press, 2021:
“The expansive soul of Russian women yearns, at heart, for the feast of life. And what feast and what fun can there be without Versace, a punch-up or karaoke? A passion for risk and bling and underworld romance,” said style expert Larisa Bulgakova.
America’s version? “Clean girl is out, mob wife is in!”
Learn from Mob Wives Beyond Bridge, Tunnel or White
Latin American and Black mob women archetypes have more agency. (note: Asian mob wives were less findable online.)
They take over cartels or start their own. Fight for cash and territory, not just influence and allowance. Sofia Vergara is just launching a film where she sexes up cartel legend Griselda (while sexing herself down).
Mob wives of Tiktok, think bigger!
It’s likely this trend will die out before the before the hairspray dries. But I’m watching to see If it continues and ushers in a more decadent, voluptuous and seductive era after our long, swaddled time.
Gotta go put on a shapeless woolen now.
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