MCSWEENEY, REIFIED

Alex Blynn
7 hours ago
7 min read

With a Renewed Focus on her Business and Wellbeing, the NYC Legend Discusses Life, Legacy, and Fashion

Written by Alex Blynn

Leah McSweeney has endured the oftentimes harsh worlds of fashion, media, and reality television. She has already lived many lives; as a celebrity, as a designer, as an entrepreneur, and as a mother. And now, her focus is on happiness, wellness, and the fun side of creativity.

McSweeney’s early run into the vicarious world of streetwear with Married to the Mob (MOB for short) earned her a spot in design history, both because she was a female founder in a deeply male-dominated part of the clothing industry, and because the MOB designs themselves were genuinely fresh. Worn by a multitude of cultural figures of the early aughts – from Rihanna to Fergie to Young Thug – MOB’s easy fit Ts and hoodies and loungewear made of premium materials, usually affixed with acerbic slogans, were a fast hit. McSweeney herself was a noted It Girl, a part of the set of downtown Manhattan 20 and 30-somethings who utterly dominated the scene at the time.

Now, after years spent in the public eye, McSweeney is living between New York and Florida with her 18 year old daughter Kier, and has pulled much of her inner circle even closer, becoming cautious of who and what she associates with. Though MOB never went away, with McSweeney’s myriad other projects taking a massive toll on her time, the line became slightly back-burnered; but McSweeney is officially at her designing board and creating original works again! With new MOB pieces debuting this Spring season, we thought it was a great time to celebrate our friend Leah with a photoshoot by acclaimed nightlife photography ingenue Matt Weingberger, and an interview with the founder of fashion foundation VFILES, Julie Anne Quay.

Julie Anne Quay: What made you feel that now was a good time to share more about what you’ve been up to?

Leah McSweeney: I've been a lot more intentional about what I put out there. I'm enjoying my life and haven't felt the need to self-promote. I've been really enjoying it. And I'm so lucky that I have creative friends to put together amazing things like this cover. And you know I love talking to people and connecting with people. So I feel this is as good a time as any.

JAQ: Your brand MOB is in the midst of reemerging. Can you reintroduce us a bit to the fashion line, MOB?

LM: Married to the Mob is a brand that I started when I was 22 years old, really out of nowhere. I was doing assistant styling work for Patricia Field’s wife, Rebecca Field, but I had no kind of formal training in fashion or business. It's a streetwear brand for women. At the time in the early aughts, MOB was working with everyone from Nike to Kangol and Reebok to Rihanna. Kendall Jenner and SZA wear my stuff. The list goes on and on of the women that have worn MOB, and the guys too. I want to talk about MOB in the present tense though, because it does still exist, and I am dropping some new stuff, with my daughter’s help. She actually just showed me a creative director of a very famous rapper who's knocking my shit off, and my daughter and her boyfriend are mad at him. I'm like, guys, we're gonna hit him up and work with him soon, don’t even worry about it. Like, who cares? I'm flattered that a Gen Z creative director of a rapper I've never heard of loves my stuff. Let's work with him. I think that is dope. But that’s streetwear, it’s a game, taking something, flipping it, making it your own.

JAQ: What do you want people to feel when they buy and wear MOB?

LM: I want them to not take things too seriously. MOB is irreverent and fun. I really try not to take myself too seriously, too. Fashion is something people feel very seriously about, and take very seriously, but I just never have. I think we need as much fucking fun, enjoyable things as we can, you know? MOB is part of my persona; Married to the Mob girls are super confident and fearless and don't give a fuck about what anyone else thinks or says. For my part this is kind of a full circle thing, because I'm really trying to get back to being more like that again.

JAQ: You’ve done so much in your career – when you look back at all of that, what still feels essential to you? And what have you outgrown?

LM: MOB is always going to be valid and relevant to me because it literally raised me and gave me such a huge, fulfilling life. I sometimes think back and I realize I'm just so fucking lucky, it was such an incredible experience. It's very meaningful when someone tells me that they're a fan of the brand, or they wore it in high school or college. Getting to be a part of that cultural moment is very meaningful to me. And even though I don't want to live in the past, I don't think I'm ever going to outgrow it. My daughter's now about the age I was when I started the brand, so I have this weird existential feeling. But I'm also very happy that I'm 43 now, and even though living in 2026 is kinda fucked up, I'm still excited about what comes next.

JAQ: You really got started in the early aughts – what were those days like?

LM: One night at a club in NYC, the only people there happened to be me, my friends, and Britney Spears… she danced with us all night. That kind of thing only happened in the early aughts. Really cool people like Cobrasnake and Uffie ruled the party scene, skateboarding and hip-hop combined and turned into streetwear. New York nightlife was also just epic. There was really something about that post-9/11 NYC, where my generation turned kind of nihilistic because of the insane, shocking events that had just changed our skyline. All we really gave a fuck about was partying because it was just so gloomy. So we were just like, let’s go out till fucking six in the morning, and we’re gonna dance and we’re gonna get so fucked up. I had so much fun. Not that I’d encourage that kind of behavior now.

JAQ: What has giving yourself space outside of the internet and social media allowed you to see more clearly?

LM: The internet, social media, phones, people being used to having access to you at all times. And the lie we've all been fed that we have to put everything about ourselves online, at all times. I'm so turned off by that now. I don't have to tell everyone how I’m feeling constantly. I don't have to update people about my bad or good experiences. It's just exhausting being on social media all the time, and it's not conducive for creativity at all. Unplugging is a very powerful thing. I'm really taking control of my time and my space and what I share and what I don't.

JAQ: How’s living in Florida been?

LM: Let me clarify that, I’m snowbirding. And I have to say that after four months of being here, I'm so ready to come back to New York. I cannot look at one more bad outfit down here. Sorry, look at me, now I'm being so serious about fashion. But also it’s been wonderful to not have seasonal depression.

JAQ: Let's talk a bit about motherhood in 2026.

LM: Kiki is really such a joy, honestly. I'm like, is it normal to love your kid this much? I don't think my parents thought this highly of me when I turned 18. Sometimes I worry I'm loving her too much, that it's gonna fuck things up for her later. I do see her as this angel. I guess I'm always trying to make sure that I'm doing a good job parenting. I think about that a lot. I am constantly trying to check myself about that stuff. I'm like, damn, she’s seen me go through it, I've totally complained about my looks in front of her. But I'm just a human being trying my best. And I have kept her private, off my social media for the most part. She's so creative and she's so funny. She's having such a different life than I had, for better and for worse. I was a maniac, and I was working at age 16, out of my house at age 18. And I was living in a therapeutic community, and I had an addiction issue I was dealing with, and blah, blah, blah. She's not dealing with any of that, obviously.

JAQ: So what’s next up?

LM: I just want to say this: yes my brand is kind of relaunching, but I’m also really doing this for the fun of it.

JAQ: You did it for fun in the beginning. Which is why it will work this time too.

LM: Exactly. I just want it to be fun. I want to make things that I like, and I want to put pieces online whenever I want to. I have no rules for MOB. I'll drop a fucking MOB sweatshirt in the heat of summer if I want to, and I don't care what colors are in or out. Some of it might even be offensive to people, I don't know. I never thought about rules before, and I don't want to think about them now.