Style Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the wider world.
Among the myriad microtrends that have emerged over the past few seasons, fueled by TikTok and the explainer-happy media landscape, the overriding theme is one of hyperfemininity. First, Barbiecore was bombarded into our consciousness in all its hot pink glory, followed by its cousin Bimbocore. Then came all sorts of sweet, innocent, girlish tropes, from adorable coquettes draped with ribbons and bows on the runway to the candy-colored crowbars that are a staple of balletcore. And who can forget this pretty girl and all her food-related past, from blueberry milk nails to strawberry makeup?
Well, if TikTok is to be believed, they’re all going to their graves. The app’s latest pet style archetype shares the feminine, almost performative DNA of its predecessor, but with a twist and is anything but innocent. The world-weary “gangster’s wife” has become a movie trope ever since she appeared in the form of a gangster thug in movies like: murderer and incandescent. Her foul-mouthed, foul-mouthed girlfriend has seen it all, and that’s what she looks like. And whether she likes it or not, there’s a certain charm to her being so close to crime.
TikTok creator Kayla Trivieri started this trend: video She announced that she was going to take the “pretty girl” aesthetic out and put in the “yakuza wife” (“Carmela Soprano walked so you guys could run,” she said). the sopranos It invites a rediscovery of the series, its complex female characters, and its style. But this aesthetic feels like more than just a show. It’s more like a complete rejection of everything that’s come before. The Yakuza Wife style is characterized by excess, such as being wrapped in fur, showing unrelentingly big hair, treating cheetah print as a neutral, and wearing makeup that is the complete opposite of no-makeup.
“Quiet luxury” isn’t in her vocabulary, but luxury is. Her wealth is anything but stealthy. Look at Sharon Stone’s Ginger. casinoslowly unraveling looks like Pucci lounge pajamas or go-go Courrèges sets, complemented by rich jewelry, or Michelle Pfeiffer’s Elvira. scarface, She wears large sunglasses and a silky slip dress.in house of gucciLady Gaga is scheming and scheming with Gucci (what else?), while Jennifer Lawrence is american hustle Her signature features are her high piled hair and tight Halston light gown.The lesser-known heroine is Jennifer Tilly’s gangster girlfriend in the Wachowski-directed Sapphire film. bound, her brick-red lips are wearing a sexy dress and her Chanel vamp nails pop off the screen. In some ways, this is the perfect style for a recession. Why not show off everything you’ve got while you still can?
There’s also a sense that a lost world is being mined here. Part of its charm is its remoteness. All of the movies and shows mentioned above are old projects or period dramas. And like everything from rolled-up sleeves to office wear to “beach grandma,” fashion loves to fetishize disappearing archetypes.
Effortlessness (and, in the case of pretty women, a kind of forced blandness) disappears in favor of a constructed self. The Yakuza Wife has been trained all her life and she’s not afraid to show it. For now, minimalism may still be winning on the runways. But I know who I want to have a martini with.
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Veronique Hyland is ELLE’s fashion features director and author of this book. Dress code, was selected as one of the new yorkers Best book of the year.Her work has previously been published new york times magazine, new yorker, W, new york magazine, harper’s bazaar, and Condé Nast Traveler.