"Mob wife" is officially the dominant fashion look of early 2024: knowingly over-the-top, even trashy – the tough woman who has fought her way to money and power and isn't afraid to show it off. Now, TikTokers are emulating the look.

Millions of TikTok users have suddenly become obsessed with the look of women on Goodfellas, Scarface, and The Sopranos – or even the cold, hard style of Melania Trump.

The look leans hard on the 1980s with faux fur or bold leopard print over lots of black including stockings, leather, red nails, chunky jewelry, and sky-high heels.

It is about being "bold, tough, fearless, and unapologetic – all traits I think are admirable, aspirational," one of the influencers behind the trend, Sarah Jordan Arcuri, told AFP. The 29-year-old Italian-American from New Jersey – home of The Sopranos of course – has been pushing this aesthetic to her 120,000 Instagram followers for a couple of years.

It is the accessories that really make it: lots of heavy gold bracelets, statement jewels, chain belts, and rings stacked on top of each other.

"All the gold gifted by your husband. You never take it off," laughs Arcuri.

TikTok star Mikayla Nogueira, who has 15.3 million followers, posted a wildly popular tutorial on how to do "mob wife" beauty: heavy smoky liner around the eyes, fake eyelashes, and a "dark red lipstick".

The hair needs some serious volume, ideally an 80s-style perm.

Mob wife aesthetic is a style that has been embraced by social media favorites like Dua Lipa, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Hailey Bieber.

Naturally, theirs is a somewhat more sophisticated version and they present themselves not as trophy wives but as hard-nosed business magnates in their own right.

In the pendulum swings of fashion, "mob wife" is the natural reaction to last year's "quiet luxury," in which the ultra-wealthy sought to play down their vast riches with discreet and sober outfits.

Google searches for "mob wife" have increased more than 2,000 percent in the last three months, while its hashtag has gained 161 million views on TikTok, said trend consultancy Journo Research. Much of this may be fuelled by Gen Z's rediscovery of Michelle Pfeiffer's style in Scarface, recently playing on Netflix, and amusement over Edie Falco's looks in The Sopranos, which has been celebrating its 25th anniversary thiss year.

Griselda, a new show about a Colombian cocaine baroness in the 1970s and 1980s in Miami played by Sofia Vergara, has added to the hype.

Yet critics have claimed fashionistas are guilty of "cultural appropriation" for borrowing from Italian-American mobsters and Latin American narcos.

Influencers like Arcuri dismisses the criticism: "It's just a way of having fun and feeling empowered... It's not just for Italian-American girls. Anyone has to feel free to join in."