Tabi Nails Are the Astonishing Trend That Could Never Actually Happen
Tabi nails are real. Recently, the split-toe style has leapt from haute couture footwear to fingertips. It’s the latest oddball idea on social feeds, and it looks exactly how you’d expect, with a notch cut in the middle of the nail. Some call the “trend” fashion-forward. Others call it confusing or even ugly. Either way, it’s here, and nail pros are watching to see if this niche look has any staying power or if it’s just clickbait.
What Are Tabi?
No, they’re not shoes. At least, they weren’t originally. Traditional Japanese tabi are socks made to wear with thonged sandals like zori flip-flops or the wooden platform geta seen here.
The oldest tabi date back to before 800 AD. They were leather without a divided toe, which likely didn’t provide ideal odor or moisture control. With more frequent monsoons in the Medieval Warm Period, Chinese platform sandals became a real trend in Japan as people tried to keep their kimonos out of the mud.
As thonged shoe styles evolved for comfort and practicality, so did tabi socks. Experts say that split-toe cloth tabi existed by the end of the classical Japanese era, or 1185 AD. Since this was long before elastic was invented, the wearer would tie them on or use fasteners along the heel. White is still the most common color, especially for wearing in traditional tea houses or theaters, but other hues are available.
How Did Tabi Socks Become Shoes?
Blame it on Maison Margiela, a high fashion house in Paris. They live for unconventional designs for radical self-expression. The founder, Martin Margiela, visited Japan in the 1980s and saw regular people wearing cotton split toe footwear. He then decided to create tabi split-toe high heels based on the Japanese style. The debut collection strutted down the runway in 1988 leaving red footprints behind. Why? So people couldn’t ignore the new shoes!
Four decades later, the camel toe shoe shape has spread to pumps, ballerina slippers, and boots. What’s more, Margiela’s brand is at fault for inspiring most of the tabi nails currently stopping scrolls on social media.
Tabi Ballerina Nails
If you go to the official Maison Margiela catalog, you’ll see that their tabi ballerinas come in black, chocolate brown, cream, red, and periwinkle gray. Some of the shoes are leather, and others are velvet with an appealing gradient look created with lasers and “hand distressed”.
This set of tabi nails is similar to the tabi ballerinas with a low heel. They are the only model in the current collection with a bow above the toes. However, the shoes don’t have an exaggerated gap. Instead, the split is nearly unnoticeable from a distance.
On a side note, at the time of writing, every size of this particular black ballerina shoe was sold out. It seems that it’s not just tabi nails that are having a moment in fashion.
The good news is that if you want a tabi manicure, you never need to sacrifice your natural nails. It’s as easy as drilling a split into a set of soft gels or sculpting cloven nails with acrylic or poly gel.
Kudos to the artist here who rounded the edges to make the design safer for those of us who fidget with hair.
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Tabi Metallic Ankle Boots
Some of the Maison’s tabi boots have a chrome-like finish called broken mirror. It’s not as sleek as these tabi nails are as it has a distressed appearance. As for the number 22 in a circle, it stands for the shoe product line in the Maison Margiela collection.
What’s interesting is that in the first years, Margiela often repainted boots into new colors for future fashion shows. He just didn’t have the money for new forms. However, this wasn’t a detriment as fans started requesting hand-painted tabi footwear!
When we compared tabi nail designs, the ones that seemed most similar to actual tabi shoes had a narrower gap. They were usually crafted from soft gels since it’s easier to cut a skinny split than it is to sculpt it.
Distressed Tabi Nails
The Bianchetto treatment is something you’ll see on certain tabi boots and shoes in the catalog. Typically, it’s white, not silvery chrome, but these tabi nails remind us of the style. The shoes are painted white by hand in an imperfect pattern, plus the white paint flakes off on purpose. How would you feel about a manicure where the finish gradually falls apart? Would it be more authentic?
What Will You Do with Your Tabi Nails?
This set of tabi Mary-Janes are a concept nails design from Singapore. Apparently, there’s quite a tradition of people photographing tabi shoes while using them to hold cigarettes, wine glasses, or wads of cash.
Press-on Tabi Nails
Go full haute couture with an entire Margiela ensemble. Besides the tabi shoes for your nails, why not wear custom press-ons with other sculpted accessories like miniature earrings, a watch, a belt, and so on.
Have you seen the new LAVIS 3D Molding Gel and the Pat Pat Palettes? They are essential tools for nail artists doing intricate designs like these.
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Painted Tabi Nails
Realistically, just like tabi shoes aren’t for everyone, neither are tabi manicures. If you want to celebrate the style without cutting notches in your nails, why not paint the source of your inspiration instead? Here you can see the distinctive footprint and actual Margiela boot colors.
Who’s Wearing Tabis?
At the moment, we haven’t caught any celebrities wearing tabi nails. Yet. However, there are many stars like Dua Lipa and Zendaya wearing tabi shoes. One fashionista commented that the look shows a person has “range” in fashion, with the ability to walk a different path. That’s likely the case for tabi nails, too.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to set trends with daring tabi nail art, then we have the supplies you need. Shop our store for in-demand shades and more with irresistible perks like free shipping.
Sources:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-history-of-tabis
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/a43561450/margiela-tabi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabi
https://www.maisonmargiela.com/wx/maison-margiela/women/shoes/tabi/