Marissa Webb is stepping out after stepping down as creative director for Banana Republic. This week she debuted her first collection at New York Fashion Week fall 2016. The collection, which was bold and modern, incorporated a lot of looks that were ready-to-wear. Chunky sweaters, classic jackets, flowing dresses and perfectly tailored trousers dominated her runway, but amongst the classic mix-and-match pieces Marisa is pushing boundaries, especially when it comes to nail art.
The look is called, “outside of the box,” Zoya Nail Polish lead Miss Pop said. Miss Pop is Marissa Webb’s go-to nail artist for her fall 2016 collection. Miss Pop explained the look by saying it is “a nail framed in black [polished]” with the center left bare. To get the look she clarified, “I am using a vinyl sticker stencil and I am just putting it up the center of the nail doing two coats of black letting it dry for a minute, lifting up the tape and then sealing the tip so it creates a perfect box in the middle of the nail.” Miss Pop cautioned “you have to make sure that your nail polish is fresh for sure…[and] thin coats …. and you’re not completely covering the sticker because if you do it will cause [a] ridge.
As to the development of the nail design, Miss Pop confesses Marissa and her typically are on the same wavelength. She says, “I like very bold kind of shapes and so does she [Marissa]…[I like] very strong looks and so does she [Marissa]. She adds, “I am sort of a minimalist when it comes to nails…so I will paint my samples based on what I think she’ll like and then we will whittle it down…until we get the final look.” Miss Pop admits Marissa makes it easy saying, “she [Marissa] knows [nail design and art] finishes her girl. Her girl is edgy and exciting and isn’t the kind of girl who will leave her nails undone, so Marissa wants to make sure that is the finishing touch.”
Miss Pop acknowledge the novelty of the look. She said, “it’s a new kind of idea, but it’s happening…I feel like it’s almost counter intuitive that a square or a rectangle would be beautiful on a nail.” She goes on to say, “it feels so opposite of the shape that we [typically] do on our nails…but there is something that is really elongating, beautiful, simplistic and almost sexy to have the negative space in the middle cut out.”
-Melissa Unger