When PRISCAVera, the edgy fashion brand loved by “it-girls,” sent long, square acrylic nails stacked high with ephemeral, 3D bubbles down its Spring/Summer 2023 runway, the media called it the “Euphoria Effect.” And then there’s Vivienne Westwood, whose runway models are known to wear manicures just as artistic as the late designer’s clothes — the elaborate nails from her Spring/Summer 2023 collection were met with particular praise. Each nail came in different lengths ranging from medium to extra long, shapes from hard square to stiletto, and unique designs paying homage to glitter, hand painting, and textural gel sculpting. While these runway looks became the season’s biggest nail trends, in reality, long, intricate nails have been popular among Black and Latinx women for decades. Although these manicure designs are often dismissed as the humdrum of a trend cycle, for the Black community, nails sit at a unique crossroads of race, gender, class, and immigration. Ahead, this intersection reveals how Black culture and nail artists have transformed the nail experience — often without acknowledgment.
While recent cultural shifts reflected online and on runways seemingly make room for these styles in the ideal beauty sphere, Black women who wear these looks aren’t always met with the same acclaim. Take sprinter and Olympic hopeful, Sha’Carri Richardson, for example. She reached overnight acclaim and simultaneous judgment in 2021 when critics used her penchant for wearing long, bejeweled acrylics as confirmation of rule-defying drug use and ineligibility.
This negative association between nail art and Black women, particularly Black women in power, is nothing new. It’s perhaps best demonstrated by Florence Griffith-Joyner’s similar Olympic tale of record-breaking success at the 1988 Olympic trials and Summer Games that was nearly overshadowed by public disdain for her ornamented nails. “When it’s on a Black woman, it’s seen as ghetto. Now,…
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