Over the last few weeks I’ve been diligently working away on my soon to be released Nail Color Now report ( more about this soon! ), and have been spending a lot of time of late not only looking at the amazing range of hues we have to choose from, but also the ways in which we can use the colors of our nails to make a fashion statement.

So when I opened up the Style section of the NY Times yesterday and saw that their top story was reporting on the trend of wearing chipped nail polish, I took note.

a photo from the Time’s article “I Love What You Didn’t Do To Your Chipped Nails”

Here’s an excerpt…

Now there is another stylistic tic that would have been unthinkable on a proper lady in your Aunt Beatrice’s day. Over the last few years — since the era of the skull print scarf, let’s say, or the (metaphorical) rise of the Olsen twins — having streaked, chipped or just plain grotty nail polish no longer suggests drug addiction, manual labor or pure laziness. Like untied high-tops, thread-worn jeans and bedhead, it’s now part of a deliberate look.

And chipped polish is not sported solely by nail-biting school students and downtown punkers. It has been spotted uptown, in professional settings and gala parties, behind department store sales counters and even (gasp!) on beauty and fashion industry insiders.

Anyone can get caught between manicures. But now women no longer have to sit on their hands when they do.

With the popularity of with wearing a much darker palette of nail colors over the past few years, perhaps this trend should come as no surprise- anyone who has ever donned an inky manicure knows how quickly those chips creep up on you.

But does that mean you should embrace the chips instead of simply reaching for the nearest bottle of lacquer removal?

Being one that would quickly reach for the remover, I suppose this trend is a little hard to wear. Though, I have to admit the hardships of life ( computer, texting, sink loads of dishes, etc.) has kept me from wearing dark polishes sans a special occasion- so perhaps I should give those mavens who brave to wear it everyday some slack.

And like with any fashion trend that goes against generations of conditioning ( just think how shocked our grandmothers must have been when de-constructed clothing in all of it’s undone hems and exposed zippers glory showed up)- perhaps the Time’s acknowledgment of this trend of “embracing the wear and tear of one’s existence” is not only a testament to “street fashion” but to those of us confident enough to go against the grain as well.

I don’t know…- no matter how fabulous these girls are rocking the “trend- I still think chipped polish looks ugly.

But then again, if we see models parading down the runways come September’s Fashion Weeks wearing less than perfect nails- I may just be eating my words.

( a post note on 5/27: I just read that Creative Nail Design manicurist Roxanne Valinoti designed “chipped” toes for the runway of Ruffian’s Fall collection… I will begin eating my words right now! )

What do you think…. would you purposely wear chipped polish?   

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