You Heard it Here First: These 5 NYFW Nail Trends Will Influence Your Manis for the Next Year

New York Fashion Week is one of the most influential, style-defining events of the year. From the ravishing runways to the buzzing backstage spaces, there’s no shortage of chatter about the newness from everyone’s favorite designers during this busy week. But as beauty editors, we keep a close eye on the hair, makeup, and nail choices, pulling the collections together before showtime, and the latter had some of the most scene-stealing moments yet.

We pride ourselves on being quite cultured in the world of nails here at Who What Wear, and this year’s assortments for the spring and summer of 2026 sated our thirst for exciting new trends. While there were timeless takes that will never go out of style (hi, classic French tips), there were also standout designs inspired by their respective collections that captured our attention all week long. Ahead, the five trends that enchanted our nails-obsessed team of beauty editors this fashion week.

Fine Lines

Never before have we seen more interesting linework than backstage at the S/S 26 runway shows. Though the styles of each designer vary astronomically (we’d hardly liken Off White’s scholarly streetwear collection to Sandy Liang’s nostalgia-driven, doll-like creations), there was a certain throughline (forgive the pun) threading the manicures of these shows together.

Off White’s Nostalgic Negative Space

Celebrity nail artist Coca Michelle is seeing negative space for spring. This all-OPI set from Off White’s S/S 26 show experiments with unpainted details and thin, double French tips to let the ‘70s streetwear-inspired designs do the talking. “Off White and I pared it down and made something that was more wearable because the collection is very busy,” Michelle tells WWW. Nostalgia and black influence, she adds, is the inspiration behind the show’s “Pop Romance” theme, though she and her team sensed a 2016 chevron nail comeback with these designs. Tying in a trendy French tip and her dated designs, Michelle says this look “ties in what’s relevant” while offering “a nostalgic feel.”

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Sandy Liang’s Baby French Tips

No Sandy Liang look is complete without an ultra-feminine manicure, and these simple baby French tips might be easiest to recreate. Celebrity manicurist Holly Falcone painted each model’s nails with varying shades of glowy pinks and whites from her soon-to-launch brand, Celisse Nails, to achieve these short nail-friendly looks. The trick here is to keep things featherlight—so your French tip is no more than a sliver across the tip—to get that editorial fine line designers loved so much this season. While you can’t yet nab her exact shades, we found similar ones below.

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Kim Shui’s Fishnet Set

To complement Kim Shui’s S/S 26 collection full of layering acts, trailblazing nail artist Sojin Oh (who’s crafted intricate sets for Blackpink’s Lisa and Rosalia) translated the theme of slipped skin and sheer fabrics with naked nails and white fishnet-inspired lines. You can achieve a similar look with a steady hand and a thin-brushed bottle of nail polish, but if you don’t trust your linework, you can get the exact Shui look with semi-cured gel nail strips from Oh’s K-beauty nail brand, Kijibae.

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Nail Jewelry

We’ve waxed poetic about nail jewelry countless times. Whether it be gemstone-dipped tips, molten metal details, or 3D charms, we’ve likely studied and frantically typed about each one that’s come across our desks. If there’s anything that this fashion week taught us, it’s that this trend isn’t going anywhere—in fact, it’s only gaining momentum.

Grace Ling’s Pierced Claws

Michelle didn’t have to do much to tailor her signature cyperpunk style to Grace Ling’s “Future Relics” spring collection. To compliment the designer’s technology-inspired line, Michelle experimented with mediums like builder gel, dangling charms, and nail “piercings,” giving each look an extra edge. The base of this “pierced bone” look was accomplished with OPI shades and the Intelli-Gel Super Matte Top Coat, plus metal details for that extra zing. But if you don’t have a gel-curing lamp, don’t worry—we have some DIY-friendly alternatives below.

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Kim Shui’s Nail Charms

Oh continues to experiment with Shui’s layered look for this collection when crafting this daintily charmed set. The nail artist and brand founder uses the Kijibae semi-cured gel nail strips to achieve a solid base before punching a small hole through the extensions on accent fingers to attach a thin chain with dangling “K”-initial charms—both for Kijibae and Kim Shui. To replicate the exact same look (sans charms, though these initial stickers are a great substitute), add the Kijibae Midnight Butterfly Gel Nail Strips to your cart.

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Metallic Mania

Celebrity nail artist Patti Yankee previously told WWW that she predicts metallics will continue to prosper this fall, and we got confirmation in the form of shiny manicures backstage. However, we don’t mean glazed nails when we say metallic—we mean the alloy-like, shimmery stuff of nostalgic DIY salon sessions at home. Don’t believe us? Keep scrolling to see.

Sergio Hudson’s Disco Nails

Celebrity nail artist Erica De Los Santos leaned into ‘80s glamour when crafting the manicures that would fit Sergio Hudson’s S/S 26 collection. A loud and lavish mix of bold zebra and cheetah prints, structured sleeves, and dated patterns swept the carpeted runway, and De Los Santos matched pitch with layers of mixed metal(lic) nail polish. She achieved a “jewel-like depth,” according to a press release, with one base layer of Essie’s Good as Gold before following up with two layers of Lights Lacquer’s gold-and-silver polish shade Das Esspensive.

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Bronx and Banco’s Brownie Bronze

Editorial manicurist Miss Pop created three looks for the spring Bronx and Banco show, but this golden-brown metallic hue is giving us all of the fall feels. The nail artist achieved this sparkly effect by applying Salon Perfect’s Magnetic One-Step Gel Polish in Magnetic Gold and forgoing the magnet tool, which offered this gorgeous metallic look instead. But if you’d rather just buy a regular metallic polish, we found a shade that looks strikingly similar.

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Christian Cowan’s Contrast Chrome

Much like Collina Strada’s light-and-shadow spring collection, Christian Cowan played with contrast this season—though we zeroed in on the nails. Lead manicurist Layla Yang used Dashing Diva gel polishes to play with negative space and trendy polka dots on one hand and graphite chrome polish on the other; a set that sounds mismatched on paper, but goes so well together in practice. “I drew from both the runway and street style to capture the textures of Christian’s collection,” Yang says in a press release. “The chrome finish brings a sleek, modern edge while highlighting the bold contrasts in his designs.”

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Back to Basics

If there's one thing that this fashion week taught us, it's that classic nails will never go out of style. An array of milky polish shades and minimalist nail art decorated the tips of so many models backstage—a tactic that keeps the nails clean and allows the garments to take center stage. If you're someone who values nails that go with everything in your wardrobe, you'll want to take stock of these chic standouts.

Prabal Gurung’s Glowy Pink

You’ll be hard-pressed to find something more timeless than a simple, baby pink manicure, but Prabal Gurung gave us a lesson in classically chic nails with this editorial version. Described backstage as a “sunshine on the water” effect, this glowy nail shade was achieved by Sundays Studio nail artists by mixing Sundays’ No.49 Nail Polish and B.03 Primer to get a sheer, glowy pink shade that works year-round, without fail.

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Tanner Fletcher’s Ditsy Dots

Dua Lipa and Sabrina Carpenter may have popularized the polka dot trend online, but Tanner Fletcher cemented the print’s place on the runway with these ditsy dots. Set against a sheer, milky pink base (Essie’s Hi Maintenance or Sheer Fantasy, for those curious), key manicurist De Los Santos used a dotting tool to stipple Essie Blanc in neat rows across each nail.

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Wiederhoeft’s Simple Slate

While some may find this slate gray hue unseasonal for spring, it feels all too fitting as we tiptoe into fall. Key nail artist backstage at Wiederhoeft, Shizuka Ishihara, capitalizes on the cool tones that every It girl can’t stop wearing right now—and by the looks of it, this simple slate gray hue will dominate the season ahead, too). While one may deem this shade too dark for spring, Ishihara exemplifies exactly why leaning out of the “appropriate” color scheme makes things look ten times cooler.

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Animal Instincts

One of the boldest trends to emerge from this fashion week was heavy animal print and plumage—and we’re not just talking about the clothes. Zebra and cheetah prints, and even faux feathers peppered the nails at some of NYFW’s most flamboyant shows, so it’s only a matter of time before we all start asking for stripes and spots at the salon like it’s 2011. Keep reading for some of this season’s wildest looks.

Bronx and Banco’s Zebra Chrome

When models weren’t sporting metallic brown nails at Bronx and Banco’s most recent show, they were wearing bespoke Salon Perfect press-ons accented by Miss Pop with eye-catching zebra stripes. The manicurist painted raised stripes in the animalistic pattern before curing them with a UV lamp and coating each stripe in gold chrome for that subtle, yet striking effect. If you want to lean into prints without being too loud, this is the perfect route to go.

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Luar’s Carnival Nails

If you never thought you’d see the day that feathers could be attached to nails, join the club. Celebrity manicurist Naomi Yusada, responsible for the claws on some of your favorite fashion girls (Lady Gaga, Julia Fox, Katseye, we can go on) enhanced Luar’s S/S 26 carnival theme by attaching feathers in an assortment of black, blue, red, and yellow to nails with matching ombré designs to fit this season’s collection. Though we’re not quite sure about the return of feather nail art, we know this color scheme will transcend into 2026.

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The Blonds’ Cheetah Claws

Cheetah print has been having its moment in fashion for a minute, but The Blonds’ sneak peek into spring 2026 suggests that the mob wife aesthetic will be making its way onto our nailbeds. Editorial manicurist Jan Arnold and Glitterbels founder Annabel Maginnis created ultra-fabulous (and lengthy!) extensions for the high-energy collection, including tiger prints, jewel-encrusted Venus fly trap designs, and this cheetah-spotted look, which we’re dying to try a pared-down version of soon.

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