Trends at Copenhagen fashion week are usually easy to spot. The so-called “fifth fashion week”, a laidback sibling to the other four main fashion cities, has previously popularised everything from romantic floaty dresses with practical trainers to giant hair scrunchies. But during its latest iteration that wrapped up on Friday, a much more subtle trend had emerged – naked nails.
From the models on the catwalks to show-goers and passersby, fingers and toes featured short and unvarnished nails. The trend is a sharp shift away from the long, bright and glossy mani/pedis that have more recently dominated beauty standards.
Saffron Goddard, a manicurist who works with fashion brands including campaigns for Burberry and Mango, says the goal is now “healthy-looking, well-groomed nails rather than a noticeable manicure”.
Isabella Rose Davey, COO of Copenhagen fashion week, describes the minimalist look as “very Danish”. Davey, who quit her monthly mani/pedi habit when she moved to the city from London seven years ago, compares it to the Danes’ preference for “no-makeup makeup”, where the focus is on healthy skin and minimal cosmetics. “You never see anyone with a smokey eye or red lip here,” Davey says. “They take the same approach to nails. Everything is about function here. We keep our nails short and simple because we are riding our bikes or swimming or in a sauna.”
It is a trend that extends beyond the Danish capital. Some claim it is a recession indicator. With the average cost of manicure in the UK ranging from £15 to £55, many can no longer justify monthly appointments.
More often the nail isn’t actually naked. Instead it features a polish that is clear, sheer or a barely-there pink.
According to Google trends, searches for “naked nails” are up 85% since May, while “milky nails” are up 22%.
It’s a look that Ruby Redstone, a fashion historian and owner of the New York fashion store Mess, has also spotted in the city known as the nail capital, where “no one can resist a mani/pedi”. For Redstone, who recently swapped lime green nails for “naked”, it comes down to style. “I wear relatively crazy pieces and lots of bright colours and I have realised a neutral nail is a bit easier as it goes with everything,” she says.
Annabelle Taurua, a beauty expert for the booking platform Fresha, says the “no-mani mani look reflects a wider shift towards enhancing or embracing natural features”. She points to lash lift treatments that give the appearance of a curled natural lash rather than dramatic extensions and skin tints rather than full coverage foundation. “Consumers are increasingly opting for healthy-looking, low-maintenance beauty,” Taurua says. “The appeal is less about doing nothing and more about investing in treatments that create a polished, effortless appearance.”
Some fans cite environmental concerns as a driving factor: every step of a manicure contributes to waste, including single-use gloves and nail files. Resin gel nails (where a liquid polish is cured under a UV light) and acrylic (where a liquid monomer and a powder polymer are combined to form a paste which is then bonded to the natural nail) are both non-biodegradable and shed microplastic. Plastic is also the go-to material for press-on nails, which are too small to be recycled. A study in 2022 found that nail salons have some of the worst indoor microplastic air pollution. Add to the mix worries over exposure to UV light and allergic reactions and unsurprisingly, services such as medical mani/pedis, where the focus is on nail health rather than an aesthetic, are becoming more mainstream.
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Online the “naked” look is credited as part of wider trends, including the “clean girl aesthetic” that has become synonymous with slicked-back hair and dewy skin. Dominated by wealthy, white women, it has been criticised for co-opting black and brown beauty habits. Ranking “naked” nails as more desirable than statement styles, especially when nails and nail art are so rooted in race, further taps into this, with some critics considering it a form of erasure.
Irene Shelley, the editor of Black Beauty and Hair magazine, says the “trend itself isn’t the problem: minimalism is a valid choice for anyone”. However, she says a problem arises when “a bare aesthetic gets coded as more sophisticated or more professional than a fuller, more expressive one that’s historically been coded as Black or working-class. Nails should be allowed to be a form of self-expression without a hierarchy attached to them.”
Ateh Jewel, a beauty journalist and broadcaster, compares it to Coco Chanel making tanned skin desirable among the white upper class in the 1920s. “Beauty is just another way to see how culture reflects power, status and racial prejudices,” she says. For Jewel, who has “always loved a ‘naked’ nail as well as “colourful fun nail art”, her own personal preference is now colour. “I only wore black and had naked nails before the BLM movement. Now I’m leaning into nail art and wearing pink as I don’t adhere to old social structures any more.”
For those who are tempted to fake the “naked” look, Goddard says the most important factor is to choose “a reputable salon where they’re applied and removed correctly.” She also suggests avoiding at-home gel kits as “improper removal can cause damage”. As for ditching the polish to let nails “breathe”, Goddard says that is a myth. “You don’t need to take breaks,” she says. “Nails are made of dead cells. As long as your nails are healthy and your manicures are applied and removed properly, there’s no reason you have to go without polish unless you want to.”
