It’s Official: ’80s Nails Are Back—17 Fashion-Forward Designs Giving This “Dated” Trend New Life

Everyone has a decade they wish they could whisk themselves back in time to. “I wish I were born in the ’70s,” my best friend has always said—she even acquired a baby blue Volkswagen Beetle when we turned 16 to prove it. While I admired her vintage taste in music and eclectic car, I always vouched for the bold shoulder pads, synth-soaked music, and saturated eye shadow of the ’80s. “I wish I were a teenager in the ’80s,” I’d counter, to which I’d usually get a crinkled nose in response.

The beauty critics of decades later deemed ’80s beauty trends garish: too loud, too colorful, too full of ozone-destroying Aqua Net. To that I say, “Gag me with a spoon”—the ’80s was undoubtedly the freest, most expressive, most unabashedly fabulous decade of beauty in recorded history (IMO). I would do pretty much anything to blast Mötley Crüe while I touched up a perm 40 years ago.

While I might not have lived through the glitzy decade of music, fashion, and pop culture that my parents did, I’m delighted to confirm its undeniable return to the beautysphere today. I watched wide-eyed as ’80s-inspired silhouettes and beauty markers reigned among the in-crowd this year—from Yves Saint Laurent’s S/S 26 show to tastemakers’ tips. Though I particularly fixated on the latter, according to my Pinterest boards.

“The ’80s were all about color, confidence, and unapologetic self-expression,” celebrity manicurist Pattie Yankee tells Who What Wear. She explains that the “fearless energy” of this emboldened era is finding its footing once again—just in a more elevated way. “Today, we’re seeing people embrace bold individuality again through fashion, beauty, and especially nails,” she adds. “Bright colors, graphic prints, and statement designs bring instant joy and empowerment, adding a sense of fun to any look.”