Jin Soon used seven colors on models, which were matched perfectly to the collection, she said. Six of the shades (all in the coral pink family) are so new, they aren’t even named yet, she noted. She painted nails to look slightly grown-out (colors didn’t go quite all the way to the cuticle), then painted clear on the whole nail.
Pulling from the theme of “serenity,” Eda Levenson for Chillhouse sponsored by CND created several patterned nails, including one inspired by water and “This is my seventh season working with Chromat, so what I love to do is reference the cutouts of the forms,” Levenson said. “When you see some of the curves in the nail art, that’s definitely an ode to a really feminine body.”
“They’re all my children, but she might be my favorite,” said Deborah Lippmann on the pink shade she used for Brandon Maxwell. Called Love at First Sight, which will launch in the spring, the semi-opaque color was applied twice to short, rounded nails.
Pulling from the theme of “serenity,” Eda Levenson for Chillhouse sponsored by CND created several patterned nails, including one inspired by water and “This is my seventh season working with Chromat, so what I love to do is reference the cutouts of the forms,” Levenson said. “When you see some of the curves in the nail art, that’s definitely an ode to a really feminine body.”
Alicia Turello for Deborah Lippmann used pastel blue and lavender, as well as a metallic green, to create a flowerlike pattern on nails, which were finished with a matte topcoat.
Mei Kawajiri used her own nails to inspire Philipp Plein on the nail look. “I had these crazy nails on myself and I showed Philipp and he’s like, I love this,” she explained. Soft pink for good girls and black for bad girls, Kawajiri then glued rhinestones in varying sizes to the press-on nails prior to application. For male models, some had nails coated in black.
Mei Kawajiri used Voesh New York’s Collagen Glove and Sock system to prep models’ hands, and finished them with Red Carpet Manicure’s Midnight Affair polish, a navy, on fingers and toes.
Captions: “[Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs] chose a blue that went along with a lot of the flower prints in their collection,” said nail artist Pattie Yankee, who used a bright, cobalt blue “Ocean” shade from her namesake polish line on nails.
Rita Remark for Essie — a native Canadian — got in the patriotic spirit with a negative space varsity-inspired nail art. “I’ve been starry-eyed over this idea of football players and cheerleaders because I’m from Canada and we don’t have that there,” she told WWD backstage. Remark painted an “M” on each model’s thumb with Essie Really Red, and outlined it in Essie Blanc, an opaque white. She painted two white racing stripes in Blanc on each finger. Remark also did toe art, replicating the racing stripes in Blanc on each toe — a first this season, she said.
Models sported different colors on different nails, but the overall look was neutral, featuring white, black and tan.
Anna Sui’s silver glitter polish was layered on fingers and toes.
For nails, Rita Remark created her own take on a graphic French nail. The nail artist, who keyed the look for Essie, first coated nails in Skinny Dip, a nude tone, then using a fine brush, drew a streak of Garden Variety, a teal blue, at the rim of the nails. “When you’re working a show like Alice + Olivia with a lot of pattern and texture, you want something that balances everything out, but is still creative,” she said. “The aqua is a color that flows throughout and it’s a unifying shade for me.”
“I know what he likes — he likes nudes,” said Jin Soon Choi of Michael Kors’ taste in nail polish. Choi was backstage at the designer’s spring show, armed with her team of nail artists. “Last [season] we did a smoky nude, but this time it was too heavy, he wanted a light color.” Choi used a coat of Jin Soon nail polish in Dew, a sheer, milky-white tinged nude, on hands, and for toes — a coat of Dew mixed with Nostalgia, a true nude.