Mismatched nails are this autumn’s coolest trend

On Sunday, Grimes posted a ​“candid” snap of her reading Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto on Instagram after splitting with boyfriend Elon Musk, or, y’know, the wealthiest person in the world.

She later addressed the headlines and claimed she was ​“trolling” the paparazzi following her. Either way, it is, potentially, the best throwing of ​“shade” a celebrity post-breakup has ever thrown. But while the world was busy lapping up her dig, we were transfixed by Grimes’ nails. The alien beauty was pictured in LA flicking through the leftist book with what we’re now calling mismatched tips, and we’re predicting this nail fad is here to stay.

Her nails painted in a pretty nude were a patchwork mix of coffin-shaped tips, shorter square shapes and long sharpened points that shouldn’t work together in theory but in practice, are noteworthy.

Jenny Bui, Cardi B’s manicurist of choice, is a proponent of the clashing nail shapes. Famous for her seriously gilded tips, this style isn’t for the faint-hearted. On the other hand, celebrity favourite @nailsbymei shows us a more wearable way of wearing the trend, with a mix of more keyboard-friendly lengths and shapes but still all-out OTT with a finish of crystals and prints.

British manicurist and artist Sylvie Macmillan, who’s long favoured clashing nail silhouettes, opened our eyes to an entirely novel nail shape at the KNWLS SS22 show that coordinated with the brand’s future ​‘it’ bags; kind of square at the base and saddle-shaped at the tip.

Ultimately, the trend is about maximalism, glamour and creativity post-pandemic. You only had to look so far this fashion month to Dries Van Noten, Ottolinger and Balenciaga’s Simpson’s collaboration to know that big nails are back in a big way.

Prada’s transparent toenail extensions might be a crowd divider, but we know the crystal border nails at Fendace will be everywhere come Christmas. Unsure on where to start? Try mixing packs of stick-on nails and see where that experiment takes you. While it might look like this manicure is best left to the red carpet, you might yet be proven wrong.