As 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the beloved HBO drama The Sopranos, many women have been celebrating by bringing back the ‘mob wife’ aesthetic.
Women have been breaking out their vintage fur coats, animal prints and tennis necklaces to pair with slicked-back hair and frosty eyeshadow, largely inspired by Carmela Soprano (played by Edie Falco), who is married to the mob boss Tony (played by the late James Gandolfini).
But perhaps the most important part of the mafia wife aesthetic is a good set of French nails, and FEMAIL spoke to Maria Salandrathe manicurist behind The Sopranos, for the best advice, literally.
The New Jersey native is The responsible for perfecting Carmela’s pink French tips and Adriana La Cerva’s rounded red claws, as an on-set nail technician from day one, when the show began airing in 1999.
Manicurist Maria Salandra is the genius behind all of The Sopranos’ manicures, including Carmela Soprano’s iconic French tips.
Salandra is responsible for perfecting Carmela’s pink French tips and worked on all six seasons of the show.
Stars like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian are already into the mob wife trend, sporting glamorous gold jewelry, fur, and plenty of animal prints.
“The thing is, it’s a really small world in Jersey,” he told DailyMail.com. “We all know each other.”
She explained that right before The Sopranos, she was doing nails at her salon in New Jersey.
“When The Sopranos was starting, the show’s head of makeup called me to do the cast’s nails; we actually knew each other since high school,” Salandra explained.
“From there, the rest was history.”
The show lasted six seasons and Salandra remained for all of them, caring for each character until 2007.
For some characters, like Dr. Jennifer Melfi (played by Lorraine Bracco), she painted their nails, while for others, like Carmela and Adriana (played by Drea de Matteo), she did press-ons.
The nail artist would stay up until 1 a.m. creating press-ons for the characters, which she recently revealed in a Instagram post.
Salandra was in charge of painting the long red claws of the character Adriana La Cerva
“It’s a really small world in Jersey,” Salandra told DailyMail.com. ‘We all know each other’
While many of the characters wore presses hand-painted by Salandra, others had painted nails, like Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco).
Salandra attended high school with the show’s head of makeup, who was the one who initially invited her to the concert.
Sometimes Salandra would stay up in her nail salon until one in the morning, hand-painting each set of press-on nails.
Salandra would make 10 to 15 sets of pressings for each design, even for the strippers from the fictional Bada Bing! club in the program.
she revealed that when doing Carmela’s nails she opted for pink and white, because it was popular among her housewife clients of the time.
And when Falco finished filming, Salandra would take off her press-ons since the actress didn’t want to have long nails all the time.
For Adriana, the manicurist made a change, moving away from the typical French.
Salandra used OPI’s deep wine-colored Málaga Wine, but she also had fun creating bold nail designs.
‘For [Adriana]”I did a lot of airbrush nail designs, rhinestones, hand painted designs like the Louis Vuitton logo and once I even cut out real dollar bills to make custom nail decals,” Salandra said.
For example, one of Adriana’s famous nail looks included a bright teal nail polish with zebra print tips and colorful rhinestones.
For Adriana’s nails, Salandra often mixed red and had fun creating bold nail designs, like the ones with the zebra tip on top.
“I did a lot of airbrush nail designs, rhinestones, hand painted designs like the Louis Vuitton logo and once I even cut out real dollar bills to make custom nail decals,” Salandra said.
Salandra would do 10 to 15 sets of press-ons by design for the show, where she was a manicurist for all six seasons.
Salandra was the on-set manicurist for each character, including the strippers working at the fictional Bada Bing strip club.
“But with any style, you need the nail long and curved,” she noted. “That part is key.”
And for those looking to emulate their own ‘mob wife’ manicure, Salandra said you can never go wrong with the French tip.
“For me, the ‘mob wife’ manicure is the classic pink and white acrylic,” she revealed.
“You have to ask for a long, curved nail with a square tip,” he continued. “Without that nail shape, the mafia wife manicure wouldn’t be the same.”
Although Salandra’s work on the show is now 25 years old, the looks have clearly stood the test of time as the mob wife aesthetic is back in full force, and she’s definitely here for it.
“I love seeing girls adopt the ‘mob wife’ look,” Salandra said.
“They’re really doing a great job of pulling off the look, from the big fur coats and bold makeup to the ‘Carmela’ French tips.
The famed nail artist even noted that she’s had an “influx of new clients” to her Cliffside Park salon since the trend returned, some from out of state asking for Soprano-style nails.
“For me, the ‘mob wife’ manicure is the classic pink and white acrylic,” Salandra revealed to DailyMail.com.
When getting the ‘mob wife’-inspired manicure, Salandra said it was incredibly important to have a long, curved nail.
Salandra said she had seen an influx of out-of-state clients to her New Jersey salon, many of whom came for ‘Carmela’ nails.
Salandra now has a list of celebrity clients, like Rihanna, who she did her nails for the 2017 Met Gala.
Salandra now has a roster of regular celebrities like Rihanna, Kylie Jenner and Anne Hathaway who love her creations.
“The ‘mob wife’ aesthetic is all about being bold, glamorous and fierce,” Salandra said.
‘Keep in mind that the “aesthetic” is very different than being a mob wife in real life, but it’s the best part.
‘I knew those women growing up! Always with thick hair, lots of makeup, dripping jewelry, especially gold, fur coats and, of course, a hot manicure.’