At Paris Fashion Week, one detail stole the show at the Miu Miu spring-summer 2027 show: red nails covered with protruding varnish, deliberately poorly applied. Far from precise nude manicures, this Miu Miu 2027 varnish manicure that sticks out promises to shake up appointments at the salon.
Behind this carefully thought-out chaos, Japanese nail artist Mei Kawajiri imagined for Miuccia Prada nails painted a bright red, overflowing onto the cuticles and sometimes onto the tips of the fingers, without any touch-up. Enough to make you want to put away the nail polish removers… or on the contrary to keep them close at hand before daring to test.
On the Miu Miu catwalk: the protruding varnish steals the show
At the spring-summer 2027 show, the models wore “wind-blown” hair, bare lips and bright red nails, applied in broad brush strokes. The excess varnish really overflowed over the edges, sometimes ran slightly on the skin and was deliberately not cleaned off. The effect was reminiscent of a manicure done in a hurry rather than a professional application in the salon.
The collaboration between Miu Miu and Mei Kawajiri follows a very specific trajectory. “For the past few seasons, the nails I’ve been doing for Miu Miu have been deliberately a little ‘surprising’,” she explains. Flaked bubblegum pink in spring-summer 2025, ultra-opaque glitter in fall-winter 2025: the 2027 version pushes the idea further with an apparently failed gesture, but thought out to the millimeter.
From clean girl to imperfect beauty: what this manicure says
After years of minimalist manicures, invisible cuticles and filtered photos, this red manicure is a breakthrough. “The clean girl look had its moment, but this imperfect look is the exact opposite of this trend,” says Mei Kawajiri. “Finally! Beauty can be found in reality and imperfection.” The podium thus confirms an assumed right to visible failure.
The gesture is reminiscent of Brazilian manicure, where you spill the varnish before cleaning it around the nail. Here, nothing disappears: the drips remain, like a trace of life. The chosen red, Cherry Red from Manucurist, reinforces this contrast. For the nail artist, “red is both feminine and powerful, and I love its timeless side”, a suddenly subversive classic.
Adopt the varnish that sticks out without looking sloppy
In real life, everything comes down to dosage. Evening version, you can copy the fashion show: a single, well-loaded layer, which you let slide slightly to the sides and to the fingertips, without correcting anything. For the office, it is better to have barely visible micro-burrs, concentrated on one or two “accent” nails and on short, well-filed nails.
If you’re just starting out, start with a very clean manicure, then add a few touches with a fine brush that stick out, like a wink. Choose gentle formulas, avoid leaving polish on the skin for more than 24 to 48 hours and generously moisturize hands and cuticles after removing makeup. The icon remains red, but milky pinks, nudes or even glittery black can offer the same controlled freedom.
