‘Mob wife’, ‘eclectic grandpa’, ‘coquette girl’ — these viral trends are old hats parading as something shiny and new.
For an industry predicated on the concept of newness, it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything that actually looked new.
I’m talking about the type of newness that’s unfamiliar.
Cutting-edge,
Sure, there are various iterations of skirts, trousers and coats each season, but to design a new aesthetic or a new type of fashion takes a little more imagination, a little more effort.
In the current play-it-safe survival market, much of that high-risk design has fallen by the wayside as retailers and brands try to stay afloat with the kind of clothes they know will sell and keep the lights on.
Today newness might be in recycled textiles and how a new form of leather or denim can be constructed by the addition of plant derivatives.
At Maison Margiela Artisanal’s spring couture show last week, lacquered neckpieces that looked like porcelain chest plates were, in fact, crafted from leather. The closing Paris haute couture week show reignited a level of showmanship and storytelling not seen on the runway for a long time.
Models — including a dramatic finale appearance from Game of Thrones actor Gwendoline Christie — walked out in a choreographed limp on to the cobblestoned caverns beneath the Pont Alexandre III bridge across the Seine. Like bohemian degenerates from the Belle Epoque era, here was the past refashioned into something entirely fresh and evocative.
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Advertise with NZME.Stylistically, I’ve reported on shifting trends more than I care to recall and have lived through everything from 90s grunge to 2000s “boho chic”, the distinctive haute-hippie look spearheaded by everyone from the Olsen twins to Sienna Miller.
The break-neck speed at which trends move has become even more intense with the advent of social media, and more recently with the TikTok generation discovering old ideas and rehashing them into newly named terms fit for viral fodder.
What’s evident with most viral trends is that the most popular tend to be a counteract to one that’s come before.
While last year’s clean girl aesthetic was born from self-care and nesting at home during the pandemic, the vibe shift we’re experiencing right now of problematic regression (un-diversity, diet culture, Trump) has seen an about turn towards the revival of fur coats on the back of the questionable internet trend of the mob wife aesthetic: gaudy gold jewellery and excessive fashion beloved by everyone from Victoria Gotti to Patrizia Reggiani, the latter immortalised on film by Lady Gaga in 2021 in The House of Gucci. For even more sign-of-the-times relevance, Sofia Vergara portrays Colombian businesswoman Griselda Blanco in a new Netflix series based on her life as the brainchild of one of the most profitable cartels in history.
Like most internet trends that go viral, many of these movements are part of a wider zeitgeist in popular culture. Whether it’s the popularity of Bridgerton and the arrival of “regencycore”, which then reinforced the complementary bucolic appeal of “cottagecore” in a period of uncertainty and stress during the global pandemic, or how last year’s of-the-moment focus on discreet, quiet luxury saw a spike in sales for cashmere and unbranded handbags.
But the start of 2024 has other plans.
Off the back of The Sopranos’ 25th anniversary this year, we’re seeing a rapid shift towards the kind of gaudy clothes that wouldn’t look out of place parading in Mar-a-Lago or Trump Towers during the Regan era.
A recent Google search report revealed the explosion of searches for the term “mob wife” increasing by 2122 per cent in the past three months. On TikTok, #mobwife has gained 160.9 million views, and #mobwifeaesthetic has received 130.6 million views.
Another slightly inane fashion trope — the new neutral — is being used to sell the onslaught of leopard print we’re expected to see this year, with search terms for leopard print going viral with 497.7 million TikTok views.
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Advertise with NZME.It should be noted that most Gen Zers use TikTok as a search engine rather than Google, and by doing so, these micro-trends have more potency with their influence online.
According to the Business of Fashion, Beverly Hills institution Edwards-Lowell fur storage and repair service had transitioned its business from selling to storing in anticipation of the ban on the sale of new furs in California in 2023. However, since the arrival of “mob wife” into fashion’s fickle lexicon, former owner Paul Matsumoto’s recent auction in partnership with e-tailer The Sil saw an extensive collection of Edwards-Lowell Furs sell out in minutes.
With images circulating of Kendall Jenner and other viral trend instigator Hailey Bieber wearing vintage furs in Aspen over the holidays, the extreme pivot has also come off the back of its counterpart, quiet luxury, a trend that focused primarily on the sort of understated luxury garb seen on the Roy family in Succession — think Lora Piana cashmere polo tops that cost up to $1000.
And, of course, a mob wife’s life sits in complete contrast to the internet’s other obsession with trad wives — a shorthand for “traditional wife” in which a growing subculture of women emerging across the political spectrum have chosen to lean into the role of homemaker, some with pure intentions and others using the aesthetic to sandwich extreme right beliefs in among content of making bread and dinner for their husbands.
But back to fashion.
As a geriatric Millennial straddling the digital divide between older and younger generations, here is my attempt at breaking down the most prolific (and slightly inane) internet trends circulating online at this very moment, and how they reflect the way fashion is moving right now.
Mob wife aesthetic
The look
Leopard print, leather separates, gold jewellery, fur coats — the complete opposite of quiet, discreet luxury which made an impact in 2022/2023.
The style muses
Victoria Gotti, Sharon Stone as Ginger in Casino, Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci, Michelle Pfieffer as Elvira Hancock in Scarface, Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano, and Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cervain The Sopranos.
Branch out to the UK and we’re looking at those brassy landladies with a full face of makeup, like Peggy Mitchell played faultlessly by Barabara Windsor in Eastenders, and flirty Bet Lynch played by Julie Goodyear in Coronation Street. The trend also has shades of Fran Dresher’s incomparable Nanny Fine from The Nanny.
The talking points
This latest viral trend is causing debate online for its cultural appropriation, with detractors noting that the look is one that glamourises the violence mob wives live. The trend can be attributed to an entire culture of Italian, Greek and Eastern European women who dress this way for specific socio-economic and cultural reasons.
Local brands to shop
Paris Georgia, Yvonne Bennetti, and Adrienne Winkelmann.
Eclectic grandpa
The look
Dressing like a well-to-do septuagenarian may not have been on your list of style inspirations for the year, but here we are.
So now you want to dress like Alessandro Michel’s Gucci era? Pretty self-explanatory, really. Knitted vests, loafers, baseball caps, vintage treasures, watches (analogue!). Coined by Pinterest as one of its predictions for the year, the look is an eccentric, magpie collection of nostalgia. Most notable is a pair of ballet flats for all genders and, of course, a knitted vest.
The style muses
Tyler The Creator, Richard E. Grant as Sir James in Saltburn, interior and fashion designer Luke Edward-Hall, Greta Gerwig, and Donald Glover.
The talking points
Apparently, this is a look that is a segue from last year’s more organic coastal grandmother, a look that might be on its last legs but is still the kind of micro-trend that never really went away. See below.
Also, just because it’s eclectic doesn’t mean you can throw on any old thing. The look requires more trial and error, and to make it highly personal you can weave this into your actual existing style, as Tyler The Creator does so effortlessly with his mix of street and retro finds. You don’t need a quirky vest either, the look is about old-school casual styling done right. One reliable outfit formula is a carcoat with a sweater tied around the shoulders with a baseball cap, jeans and loafers.
Local brands to shop
Thom Morison, Amelie Knits, Crane Brothers.
Coastal grandmother
The look
Slightly preppy. For an American audience, the look is evocative of summer holidays by the sea in Cape Cod with the kind of cosy interior design popularised by a Nancy Meyers film. Closer to home, the concept has been revised to work with our part of the world. Think linen dresses for wafting around the bach, shell jewellery (if it’s made from pāua shell, even better), floppy crochet sunhats, button-down blouses and linen shirts worn open over a singlet or cami.
For men, it’s much the same. Washed-out chinos and shorts, linen shirts and Panama hats.
The style muses
We’re talking Meryl Streep, Oprah, and Diane Keaton in every movie.
The talking points
Like the similarly aligned trend cottagecore, coastal grandmother has a very “white” sensibility, with much of the trend focusing on slim, blonde women cocooning underneath layers of beige cashmere at the beach.
What’s appealing about this trend is how it extends into interiors and is an antidote for that other seasonal viral trend of “hot girl summer”, which has its origins in 2019 when Megan Thee Stallion and Ty Dolla $ign song released their song Hot Girl Summer that year.
Local brands to shop
Tolaga Bay, Sills & Co., Coast New Zealand, Maggie Marilyn.
Coquette girl
The look
TikTok data displays 1.3 billion views (and counting) regarding the coquette frenzy.
Think bows, baby-doll tops and dresses, ballet flats, and mini-skirts. It’s hyper-feminine fashion with a nod to regency core and unapologetic codes of feminity, and comes off the back of the reclaimed word girl in 2023 (baby girl, girlies, et al.)
Designers such as Simone Rocha and Sandy Liang offer up the perfect vision of modern-day coquette aesthetics, along with doily-laden homewares brand Gohar World from sisters and founders sisters Laila and Nadia Gohar.
The style muses
Lana del Rey, Jennie from Blackpink, fashion designer Sandy Liang, Elle Fanning, and Simone Rocha.
Local brands to shop
Caitlin Crisp, Twenty-seven Names, Caitlin Snell, and Jojo the Label.
Blokecore
The look
For a trend that leans into a more casual styling, “bloke” core takes inspiration from masculine male archetypes. The British version of the American ‘bro’, the look fuses sports and streetwear and has helped usher in a fresh take on retro-inspired sneakers like the ubiquitous Adidas Samba. With the summer Olympics taking place in Paris in July, expect to see fashion’s obsession with sportswear continue with a slight whiff of irreverence.
Blokecore is one of the handful of micro-internet trends that has remained consistently popular since it was coined by TikToker Brandon Huntly in 2021. Taking inspiration from “Chav” culture from the 2000s, this time around there’s a proliferation of football jerseys being worn on the street without the toxicity of lad culture.
We also noted a return to vintage rugby jerseys in our 2024 ins and outs, and the national wardrobe staple is another example of bloke clothing making something of an impact.
The style muses
Specifically, football jersey-wearing 2000s-style icons like Damon Albarn, David Beckham and Robbie Williams. British fashion designer Wales Bonner’s collaborative collections for Adidas are a great example of elevated sportswear, and model Bella Hadid’s preferred off-duty ensembles often include a medley of Adidas sneakers, football jerseys, moto jackets and performance sunglasses.
Local brands to shop
Checks Downtown, Huffer, Canterbury New Zealand, and I Love Ugly.
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