The Cultural Symbolism of Scarlet Nails
By Amy Walter
Something that happened to me very recently at work was a woman complaining about how ‘gaudy’ the color red is, only to look down at my own red nails sheepishly. It’s something I never quite understood, the quiet but constant disdain for the colour red, particularly, when it came to nail varnish. How could a simple nail color mean SO MUCH? From its roots in royalty to TikTok’s ‘red nail theory,’ let's look back at the forever iconic red nail.
It seems ironic that the nail color, now rooted in negative stereotypes, was originally used as a means to reflect a high level of social status. The origins of the red nail can be traced back to ancient China, where royalty, through a concoction of vegetable dye and beeswax, would wear the hue as a reflection of their status and wealth. A similar use was in Egypt where pharaohs and queens would paint their nails red, again, as a reflection of their high, societal standing. And, by the end of the 19th century, nail polish as we know it was available to the public.
So, when did red nail polish shift from a proud display of wealth to the opposite in the eyes of modern society? Much like anything that becomes accessible to everyone, the rich of the 19th and 20th century moved away from nail polish as a means of showing-off wealth viewing it as now a ‘common’ commodity.
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Another shift throughout the 19th and 20th century was the media. Books, magazines and eventually films became increasingly popular to the masses. With films, came the male-gaze and with that the archetype of many female stereotypes we now know today. The ‘seductress', the ‘boiler-bunny’ and the ‘femme fatale’ all emerged from cinema under the eyes of the male-gaze. And of course each with a certain look, often accompanied by, you guessed it, red nail polish. Think back to English class and the existence of Curley’s wife in the classic Of Mice and Men, the emphasis on the color red is poignant throughout the novel. The goal, of course, is to emphasize imagery of seduction and passion through the color but in a context which blames these attributes as the cause for the woman’s death.
The more I researched this article the more I realized just how often red nail polish was used as subtle messaging to the audience. If you search ‘female villains’ more than half of the apparent villains will be sporting that familiar red color on their nails. Ursula, Maleficent, Queen of Hearts, Morticia Addams, Alexis Colby and Meredith Blake are just some notable women whose caricature look is incomplete without that red polish.
In all these women, red nail polish symbolizes a lot: sexuality, power, and—more indirectly—desperation.
Tthough powerful in their own right, these women are often forced into positions where their outer armor of extravagant clothing, red nails and lips is to protect against their ultimate feelings of loneliness, isolation and constriction. Constriction which is all ultimately at the hands of the role they have to play in a male dominated world.
Whether the women are deemed ‘different’ or are deemed ‘beautiful’ the villain archetype is always exaggerated at either end of the spectrum. Take Meredith Blake, the “villain,” of The Parent Trap she’s beautiful, she’s successful and she’s young, something that we, as the audience, are expected to deem evil and something to be envious of. The blonde hair, the heels and, of course, the red nails all depict her as a stereotypical caricature of a “gold digger.” So, red nails are used just like any other form of costume design, an unspoken suggestion of how the audience should interpret the character. In this case, as evil.
If we look back to the 1978 classic Grease, red nails become part of Sandy’s transformation. The red varnish has become so associated with the scene that the nail polish brand, OPI, have their own red colour paying homage to the scene with the name ‘Tell Me About it Stud.’ This is symbolic of everything the red nail came to embody at the time, rebelling against expected innocence through heels and leather jackets.
I do feel, however, that this generation is attempting to shed the subtext surrounding the red nail. We see the colour for what it adds to an outfit, helped by the many variations of shades available from maroon to cherry red. Yet, in many ways the option to sport a red nail was always political. In an age where reclaiming femininity is encouraged, reclaiming the colour red as an accessory is also a facet. For too long it was seen as ‘trashy’ to wear the colour on your nails, ‘inviting’ suggestions of your character due to the media's conjured image surrounding the ‘sinful’ tone.
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This said, you can always count on TikTok to lower the tone. In the last year, ‘the red nail theory’ became popularised on the platform. Basically meaning that if you wore red nails you were more likely to be approached by men. Now, what I can say is that a good red gel nail can improve anyone's confidence. But the theory itself relies once again on how the media has portrayed the use of the red nail over the last century. It insinuates that wearing the colour invites attention, reinforcing the same ideas that you couldn’t possibly be wearing the colour for yourself, but for men.
Over the last two decades, red nails and the meaning behind them has continued to change. Whilst once a symbolism of wealth and royalty the colour eventually became shrouded in controversy and judgement. Yet, as modern audiences came to appreciate the camp looks of Ursula, the iconic blonde of Meridith Blake and the evil ways of Kathryn in ‘Cruel Intentions’ the red nail has become cemented as the colour of icons.
