Fur, once abandoned for animal rights protection, regains popularity early this year
"Clean girl backlash... Trend won't last over 6 months"
Fur, which had disappeared amid animal protection trends, is showing signs of making a comeback.
On the 3rd, posts tagged with 'Mob Wife' on TikTok exceeded about 10,000, and video views surpassed 100.6 million.
In Korea, the term 'mob wife' or 'mob wives' could be roughly translated as 'jopok manura' (gangster's wife). Women in these videos dress to look like mafia members, wearing leopard print outfits, heavy gold accessories, glossy leather, oversized sunglasses, and voluminous fur coats.
Along with this, thick eyeliner, bright red nails and lipstick, and hair styled to be fluffy and puffed upwards often appeared.
Fashion magazine Bazaar saw the start of this trend last month on the 6th when 28-year-old TikTok creator Kayla Trivieri shared a video titled "'Clean Girl' is out, 'Mob Wife' is in."
American creator and writer Sarah Accuri calls herself the 'Mob Wife Aesthetic CEO' on Instagram and has been posting about this style since 2022. Although she had not received much attention before, interest suddenly exploded after Trivieri’s post.
Since then, famous celebrities like Kris Jenner, Nicki Minaj, Dua Lipa, Hailey Bieber, and Kendall Jenner have joined the 'mob wife' fashion trend by wearing fur coats, long leather boots, and red lipstick.
British fashion media outlet Business of Fashion analyzed that the revival of fur was fueled by the increasingly cold winter, a surge in young consumers' interest in fur, and the 25th anniversary of the popular HBO mafia-themed drama The Sopranos.
Fur, which had long been a taboo and sidelined in the fashion industry, was banned by luxury brands, fashion magazines, and retailers. In 2021, Israel became the first country to ban the sale of new fur, and Italy and Norway also stopped breeding animals for fur production. California became the first U.S. state to ban the manufacture and sale of fur products in January last year.
Consumers are returning to fur, but within the scope of sustainability trends. Whether natural or synthetic, many prefer to buy vintage secondhand fur products.
American fur brand Edwards-Lowell Fur, which struggled with a 50% drop in sales last year, benefited from this trend by using inventory to hold an online secondhand fur auction on Instagram, experiencing explosive sales growth.
The popularity of mob wife fashion is also seen as a reaction against last year’s minimalist fashion trend. While old money looks and clean girl styles subtly and elegantly display wealth, mob wife fashion flaunts wealth openly.
However, data analytics firm Trendalytics predicts that the renewed interest in fur will not last long. Weekly searches for mob wife fashion increased by 21.3% year-on-year, but this trend is expected to be temporary, lasting about six months.
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