Best Accessory for Fall: A Polished Look
By AYN ROBBINS
BOLD AND STYLISH: The Tuxedo Moon Manicure first premiered in 1925 and is again very popular today. Model Nails, located at 71st Street and Mingo Road, specialize in this stylish look and many others.
KELSY LORIN TAYLOR for GTR Newspapers
A manicure is “an affordable accessory that changes your look and your outlook. I call it ‘psycho-a-nail-isis.”
– Suzi Weiss-Fischmann
Executive V.P. and Artistic Director, OPI
My niece, Crystal, was five years old the first time I took her for a “big girl” manicure in Santa Monica, Calif. Before that we painted her tiny nails at home, and she accompanied me to the salon occasionally, watching longingly as my manicurist filed and shaped and colored my nails. Now she’s an 18-year-old college coed and bona fide fashionista. I can still remember her big-dimpled grin as she held out her little-dimpled hands in front of her face and said, “Look Aunt Weezer, I’m bleeding!” We both giggled. (My sister nicknamed me Weezer after the character who made children cry in the film “Steel Magnolias.”)
According to the magazines Vogue and In Style, THE accessory of the fall season is the “mani,” or manicure. The “mani” and “pedi” are, as a woman, as essential for me as the “mammy” and the “pappy (i.e. Mammogram and PAP smear).
Black and gunmetal grey are in (and not just in Goth circles). To tone down the zombie and vampire look (or to enhance it, as the case may be), black is used as the undercoat, and nail adhesive is painted over it and allowed to dry to a matte white to which metallic gold or silver foil is applied for a dramatic finish.
One manicure, called “Fade to Lilac,” requires only a deep color, purple, for example, or your own variance beginning with, say, a deep cocoa brown or opal black. Separate five dime-sized drops of that hue on a plastic lid or sheet of waxed paper and add a drop of white or beige, then two, then three, then four, to the darkest color, then paint your nails in graduating colors so they fade from dark to light. It’s super haute and showed up often on models at this year’s Fall 2009 Fashion Week in New York.
The coup de grace of fall manicures, however, is the dramatic “Tuxedo Moon Manicure.” It premiered around the time silent films took a bow in 1925 and was the inspiration of MGM manicurist-to-the-stars, Beatrice Kaye. In the 1940s, it was thought that reds and pinks appeared boring in black and white films and photos, so the major part of the nails were painted black with only the moons of the fingernails painted stark white. Moon manicures are usually best served in the “squoval” shape. As with the “Fade to” manicure, you can choose black, gun metal, or any of the great metallics and stone colors of the season with white, beige, or grey in the moons of your fingernails.
The non-color for this season, by the way, is gray.
One of the greatest joys of my late mother’s life was getting her hair and nails “done” every Friday, rain or shine. I was her chauffer after my father died, and we had it timed rather perfectly that I would pick her up as soon as her nails were dry. When I walked into the salon, she held out her frail, baby-soft hands in front of her face admiringly, with a faint smile on her lips. She didn’t say it, but I knew it made her feel pretty, the way it made my niece feel pretty, and they were.
A good manicurist will leave you with so much more than pretty nails. The human touch is a beautiful thing. I look forward to the finger, hand, and wrist massage as much as the actual manicure. There is nothing like feeling the blood circulating again and a little reflexology on the fingers and hands to feel alive and energized. If this isn’t a part of your manicurist’s regime, I would suggest suggesting it.
Don’t miss the Ihloff Creative Team Fall Collection this year, which will display the talents and innovation of its team in a high-energy, runway setting. There will be makeovers and a special Retail Runway adjacent to the show in the lobby. It will benefit the Resonance Center for Women, which adopts a holistic and individual approach and provides self-sufficiency to women and their families who may be experiencing challenge, change, or adversity. The event takes place Thursday, Oct. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Tulsa Convention Center Assembly Hall. For more information, go to or ihloffspa.com/community or resonancetulsa.org. Tickets cost $15 in advance at Ihloff Salons and also at Dwelling Spaces or $20 at the door. Sponsorship packages are available. You may also call (918) 587-2566. While you’re at it, why not book a manicure for yourself.
Ciao for now.
Updated 10-19-2009
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