Blake Lively turned up to the premiere of the Ryan Reynold movie, Free Guy, with pressed flowers in her immaculate manicure. Truly, it was beautiful (both the nails and the fact that the red carpets are not virtual anymore). But this is 2021, and unfortunately, pretty is not cutting it. Pretty was 2019 when the world was not all topsy-turvy, and we didn’t look toward fashion as a safe passage into escapism. We want fashion to blow us away, transport us to a fantasy land where everything is OTT and restraint belongs only in the dictionary. We want surrealism, and we want it even in the way we wear our nails.
At Schiaparelli, a Maison practically dedicated to Surrealism, creative director Daniel Roseberry has made gilded finger look-alikes that are jewellery for the nails. One of the designs, a three-part finger ring of sorts that encases the whole finger even comes with a nail that is painted siren red.
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If these are too extravagant for your liking, you can turn to Dior, where creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri has transmogrified dainty rings by twisting and turning them to sit atop the finger, covering only the nails. Leave it to MCG to package surrealism with a subtle dose of femininity, too.
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Designer Lilian Shalom has an entire line of futuristic finger accessories she calls Armor Rings dedicated to this type of jewellery. These rings have decorated the multi-million-dollar hands of one too many celebrities like Cardi B, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce, and even made their presence felt on red carpets.
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The purveyor of every whimsical trend ever, Lady Gaga was spotted wearing nails of an extreme kind by the designer – custommade ruby claws that could kill both with its looks and sharpness.
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Miss a little colour on your talons? Then look toward these teardrop-shaped ‘nail rings’ by emerging French label EGONlab who might permanently put salons out of business with their assortment of colourful cuticle jewellery made with multitudes of semi-precious stones.
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if you are unafraid to experiment, they also have designs inspired by mythical fire-breathing dragons that Daenerys Targaryen rightfully deserves but could be yours to wear.
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Injecting these designs with a little bit of her iconoclastic, science-fueled design sensibilities is Iris van Herpen who collaborated with Japanese nail artist Eichi Matsunaga to make these 3D transparent nails. Unveiled as a part of her AW21/22 collection, Earthrise, these look like tiny droplets of water frozen in black vastness of space.
Image: Instagram
So, what we are trying to say is, sure, a manicure isn’t out of commission. It isn’t even a bad thing. It’s just boring. And in times when we want our fashion to help us feel better, why do we want to feel boring?