Ella Blank Prompt #2

Acrylic Nails: Apparel or Appropriation?

Artificial nails date back to Queen Cleopatra’s rule in Egypt in 51 B.C., when she experimented with nails made from porcelain powder, painting them her favorite color: red (“Cleopatra,” 2021; “A History Lesson on Fake Nails,” n.d.). Since then, artificial nails have been popularized as a symbol of wealth and power of the upper class, both in the Ming Dynasty, from the 14th to 17th century, and in 19th century Greece (“A History Lesson on Fake Nails,” n.d.). Acrylic nails regained their spotlight in 1966, when Donyale Luna, the “first-ever black woman to be on the cover of Vogue” sported shiny, white long nails (McDonald, 2020). Two decades later, Florence Griffith-Joyner, a Black track and field Olympian commonly referred to as “Flo Jo,” garnered tremendous media attention for her long, colorful acrylic nails, worn even while breaking world records like the 200 meter in a striking 21.34 seconds (Pieper, 2015; Gretschel, 2021). While at first glance, this new visibility was seemingly positive, it simultaneously bolstered public conversations criticizing Flo Jo’s sexuality and appearance, rather than celebrating her athletic ability and accomplishments (Pieper, 2015). In addition to the media’s skewed focus on Flo Jo, a racially-charged judgment of consumers of acrylic nails as “ghetto” or “hood” began to circulate, persisting for decades (Reid, 2020). Today, acrylics have become popular with non-black women, yet they are inaccurately characterized as a new “trend.” By analyzing the works of Devon Powers, Moya Bailey, and Melissa Brown, we can gain insight into the harmful role of the media in circulating a beauty craze without acknowledging its roots in Black women’s culture.

The process by which acrylic nails entered the mainstream resembles Power’s explanation of coolhunters’ appropriation of culture from fringe groups to “the center” for profit (Powers, 2019). Whereas in Power’s definition, coolhunting benefits large corporations, I argue that celebrities, with no concrete relationship to their consumers, pull from the margins to create the illusion of their own, unique brand (Powers, 2019). For example, because the Kardashian/Jenners have much larger platforms than the average woman of color, they are credited as the trailblazers for this nail “trend” in place of the women who have been wearing acrylic nail art for far longer (Nittle, 2019). In 2017, several fashion magazines published articles about Kim Kardashian’s pierced acrylic nails, commenting on the style as if it had never been seen before. This narrative shocked Hollywood nail technician Temeka Jackson who asserted, “Black women were doing this, wearing pierced nails, back in the day. This is not new” (Nittle, 2019). In posting her nails without appreciating Black culture and women like Florence Griffith-Joyner, Kim Kardashian and her management team deceive her followers into thinking she is the face of “cool.” Celebrities, particularly those whose fame does not stem from talent, remain in the headlines by capitalizing on their brand as trendsetters. In a time when it seems like we have already seen every possible trend, it becomes even more tempting for celebrities to appropriate from marginalized groups in order to feed the capitalist system and give their fans “new,” fashion-forward content.

Rooted in the negative implications of appropriating Black culture is the push-and-pull between hypervisibility and invisibility, explained in Moya Bailey’s Misogynoir. Bailey describes misogynoir as the violence that Black women endure, resulting from the intersection between racism and sexism, especially as it progresses in digital spaces. Whereas hypervisibility describes the tendency for the media to stereotype and commodify Black women’s bodies, invisibility notes how Black women are exploited as a result of their neglect in white-centric systems (Bailey, 2021). The media’s constant attention on Flo Jo’s nails fed the predominantly White tendency to comment on other parts of a Black woman’s image, such as Flo Jo’s body in her uniform (Pieper, 2015). In one instance, reporter Phil Hersh of the Chicago Tribune recounted her bodysuit as having “one leg stretching to the ankle and the other cut off at the crotch” (Pieper, 2015). This proof of hypervisibility through the wide speculation of Flo Jo’s nails and body is incongruous with the tendency for White celebrities to deny credit to Black women when they flaunt their nails today. By ignoring Black women’s history of wearing acrylic nail art, White women perpetuate the invisibility of Black women, all the while profiting off of their culture. Overall, the media’s “policing” of Black women’s stylistic choices allows White people to preserve and benefit from misogynoiristic rhetoric as they inauthentically position themselves as the creators of “trends” that do not originate with them (Brown, 2018; Bailey, 2021).

By neglecting to adequately credit Black culture for the resurgence of acrylic nail art, White women are complicit in contributing to decades of race-based hypocrisy in which Black women are simultaneously criticized, ignored, and appropriated. The irony that acrylics were once associated with poverty, despite being one of the more expensive nail treatments, illustrates how scrutiny of Black women’s nails is born from the crossroads of racism and sexism. If celebrities took the time to credit the cultures from which they steal–whether with a quick caption or tag of a Black creator–popular culture would be taking an important, albeit small, first step towards ending the pattern of racism reinforced by the media. 

 

Works Cited

A History Lesson on Fake Nails. (n.d.).

         https://pashionmagazine.com/a-history-lesson-on-fake-nails/

Bailey, M. (2021). Misogynoir Transformed. New York, NY: NYU Press. Pp. 1-34.

         https://doi-org.proxy.library.upenn.edu/10.18574/nyu/9781479803392.003.0004

Brown, M. (2018). Beyonce’s Boudoir and the Culture of Dissemblance. Black Feminisms.

         https://blackfeminisms.com/boudoir-beyonce/

Cleopatra. (2021, December 1). History. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/cleopatra

Gretschel, J. (2021, July 31). There’s Only One Flo-Jo: Everything You Need to Know About the Fastest

         Woman of All Time. Outside Interactive, Inc.

         https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/people/florence-griffith-joyner-biography/

McDonald, L. (2020, July 3). Fashion Trends Popularized by Black Culture. The QuaranTimes.

         https://www.thequaran-times.com/post/fashion-trends-popularized-by-black-culture

Nittle, N. (2019, April 5). Nail Art Is Bigger Than Ever — So Why Aren't Black Women Getting Any

         Credit? REFINERY29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/04/225614/nail-art-black-cultural

         -appropriation

Pieper, L. (2015, April 20). Star-Spangled Fingernails: Florence Griffith-Joyner and the Mediation of

         Black Femininity. U.S. Sport History. https://ussporthistory.com/2015/04/20/star-spangled

         -fingernails-florence-griffith-joyner-and-the-mediation-of-black-femininity/

​Powers, D. (2019). On trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future, Chapter 3: Cool Hunting. Ebook

         Central. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from

         https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/lib/upenn-ebooks/reader.action

         ?docID=5968566&ppg=58

Reid, A. (2020, May 28). How Acrylic Nails Went From Working Class Salons To The Fingers Of The

         Middle Classes. REFINERY29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/acrylic-nails-class-meaning