Nail Art You Have To See To Believe – How Nails ‘Stole The Show’ During NY Fashion Week

CND, a beauty supply company and self-described “authority in all things nails” teamed up with famed fashion designers David and Phillipe Blond (known in the fashion world as simply “The Blonds“) for New York Fashion Week…and may have inadvertently ended up stealing the show!

It was a collaborative process between the CND design team and The Blonds. As Jan Arnold, CND co-founder and style director, said, “Our creative process really involves connecting with David and Phillipe, we go through every single piece in the collection.” After viewing each piece for the show, Arnold’s team of CND artists sketched out tentative nail art ideas that basically served as blueprints for final products for New York Fashion Week.

CND describes the theme for The Blonds Spring / Summer 2015 Show as “Gangsta Genie,” adding that the theme “provided the perfect inspiration for the mash-up of the coolest tunes, street attitude and lavish looks made with sophisticated handmade craftsmanship and intricate detailing from the platinum design duo! Corsets and nails were inseparable, as THIS genie travels on her magic carpet in style!!!”

Typically, the fashion designers decide on styles for nails before the models head down the runway, but The Blonds gave CND a freer reign, and encouraged the team to test their imaginations. Arnold said, “The guys [David and Phillipe] are just like, ‘Go for it, do whatever you think is right,’ which is kind of cool because they trust us.” The team took the freedom and ran with it – there have been seasons when David and Phillipe didn’t see the nails for the first time until the day of the actual show. Arnold added,

“Nails have become a part of the performance art and with The Blonds, we’re so connected — we’re like artistic soul mates. We love that they allow us to push the boundaries of our unrivaled artistry.”

The nail art used at The Blonds fashion show is just that – actual art, and probably not best tried at home. In fact, the handmade nail designs CND used took more than 500 hours to make! For example, what looks like gold chains in the manicures pictured below are actually hand-created from liquid and powder that is then smoothed and filed. However, the fantastic, sometimes whimsical, sometimes edgy nail designs may inspire you to go outside the normal boundaries of a typical manicure on your own nails.

Take a look at the photo gallery of nails below. Which nail style is your favorite? Do any of them inspire you to go a little more creative with your own nails?

[Images via CND.com]