The Black Nail Polish
Girls really love nail polish. It has always been in fashion, only colors and texture changed over the years. A ladies hand is incomplete with nail polish. It has a very interesting history. Nail polish can be traced back to at least 3000 BC when it originated in China. The Chinese found ways to use gum arabic, egg whites, gelatin, and bees wax to create varnishes and lacquers for the nails. The Egyptians would use henna to stain their fingernails. In China, as well as in Egypt, color represented social class. During the Chou Dynasty, circa 600 BC, gold and silver were the royal colors. Later, royalty starting wearing black or red nail color. Lower ranking women were only permitted to wear pale tones. Wearing royal colors without being royalty was punished by death. Modern nail polish is an actually a variation of car paint.
Anyways what other beauty product can boast a history that includes Chinese royalty and Freddie Mercury? Simultaneously countercultural and aristocratic, black nail polish is making yet another comeback. Flouting several conventions in one go, glam kingpin Freddie Mercury wears black varnish, but only on one hand; Marc Bolan, David Bowie, and other rock-star gender benders also polish.
Despite cropping up on fashion models, black nail polish still says “rebellious rock,” as evidenced by indie band the Deathray Davies’ album, titled Midnight at the Black Nail Polish Factory. Football superstar/dandy David Beckham is photographed for L’Uomo Vogue with black nails. All these celebrities putting on black nail polish goes to show that black nail polish has come of age and it is now a rage.
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