Androgyny in Our Nails

ANDRO

ANDRO GYNY

in our nails

WRITING

Rachel Erwin

MODELING

Shreya Basireddy Noah Wendel Adriana Messina Zak Ganhadeiro Rachel Erwin

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ruby Trvalik

DESIGN

Kimmy Curry Open up TikTok and you will see countless videos of people obsessing over the new trend: men wearing revolutionary, while others say we need to “bring manly men back.”

been painting their nails for longer than any of us have been alive. Why are we so shocked that boys paint their nails too? It’s nothing this planet hasn’t seen before.

Let’s go back to 3200 B.C. According to a 2016 Mic article, men in southern Babylonia wore nail polish to signify their class, with each color representing a their status. Warriors would have their nails done way to ancient Egypt and China as well, with people of all genders wearing nail varnish to signify class.

So what happened? Why did we start assuming only women could partake in the trend?

Manicures for women became popular in France in the 1800s, with Mary E. Cobb opening up the big brands latched onto the trend, and brands like Revlon were marketing to solely female consumers.

Androygnous nails entered the conversation again when musicians like David Bowie and Kurt Cobain started painting their nails. Both of them

were criticized by the media for the style choice since people didn’t know how to comprehend men challenging gender roles.

Goth subculture, however, introduced the true modern revitalization of androgynous nail art. Goth kids began painting their nails in shades of black and blood red, rebelling against societal norms.

This is why Harry Styles’ pink “Watermelon Sugar” nails are great, but not revolutionary. It’s not a brand new phenomenon. Countless men before him have done the same, but mainstream media would have

Nail art, much like makeup, clothes and hairstyles, is another way of expressing who we are. A person’s nails may reveal a lot about them, depending on the color, length and style. Choosing a nail color is no one’s gender matter?

Traditionalists say today’s men are denying their masculinity. The truth is, however, we only associate nail polish with women because big corporations told us to. We see women on billboards with beautiful red nails and we just assume that’s the way things are supposed to be. But it’s all so arbitrary. It’s like the argument that the color pink is for girls and the color blue is for boys. Says who? There is no reason we have to assign a gender to everything.

After spending some time talking with the models for our shoot, I discovered that people paint their nails for a wide variety of reasons. Some, like

Adriana, like the juxtaposition of femme-looking nails with more masculine, baggy clothing. Others, like Shreya, make it their hobby, collecting colors and learning how to create intricate designs. It’s an art form that has existed and evolved for thousands of years.

These days, androgyny is becoming more accepted because the media has decided it’s cool now. Celebrities like Troye Sivan, Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky, and even Brad Pitt have been sporting manicures lately. But just years ago, publications like Esquire could only focus on how Kurt Cobain’s “red nail varnish [was] badly chipped,” trying It’s time to start acknowledging that fashion and beauty norms generally exist because, somewhere along the line, people sat in a company meeting room and created them. The things we read and see in advertisements, magazines and movies are all handpicked for us. We see exactly what corporate America wants us to see, and many never bother to look beyond that. Social media, however, is gradually altering this reality.

With the click of a button, we can post whatever we want. We can make a TikTok or take an Instagram photo in seconds. Because of this, we are being exposed to more variety. We get a glimpse into hundreds of people’s lives as we scroll mindlessly. And, slowly but surely, we are

discovering that rules are meant to be broken when it comes to beauty.

Thanks to social media, we see people of all genders wearing dresses, nail polish, heels, pants, three-piece suits, long hair, short hair, and more. We realize that we don’t have to be celebrities to break society’s “rules.” Now, more than ever, we are experimenting with what it means to just be yourself rather than a projection of gender norms. For some, breaking the rules starts with something as simple as buying a bottle of nail polish.

Imagine how great it would be for that little boy playing with his mother’s nail polish to learn about how Babylonian warriors considered nail polish a symbol of strength rather than weakness. Think about how refreshing it would be to see a little vial of polish as nothing more than that. What if we normalized asking all children, not just girls, if they want to get their nails done for special school dances?

Nail art, much like makeup, clothes, and hairstyles, is a vehicle for self-expression.

Personally, I think everyone should try painting their nails at least once. It’s become a self-care ritual for me, as it allows me to take 45 minutes out of my day to do something that’s just for me.

And sure, if you want to take inspiration from ahead. They are simply following in the footsteps of people thousands of years older than them.

Let’s build a world where nail polish has no association with gender at all. Let’s let it be an expression rather than a statement.