Racist fingernail polish?
For my burlesque class I was reading Dita Von Tease's Burlesque and the Art of the Tease (pretty pictures). Anyway, there is the part in it where Dita talks about painting her nails in the "half-moon" or "reverse french manicure" popular in the 20s - 40s. Here's some pics:
http://blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com/2007/09/baby-moons-by-melanie-parker-half-moon.html
http://www.makeuplovesme.com/2007/09/nail-files-half-moon.html
Basically, the nail is painted either clear or pale pink (for the natural look) or vampy red, except the half-moons at the bottom of the nail bed are left plain or painted white.
The timing of this trend 1920-1940s got me thinking about whether this fashion trend was linked to some kind of proof of or performance of whiteness. I have always heard that you can tell if someone is black but "passing" for white, by their looking at their nailbeds. In addition, many many literary sources at the time point to the nailbed as a place to discern racial passing.
I haven't found any concrete internet proof to connect this nail-painting trend to proof of white racial identity, but I did find this excerpt from my bestest friends at Google Books
From Werner Sollars Neither Black, Nor White, Yet both
For some authors the sign [fingernails] is permanent, indelible, ineffaceable. According to others it can be covered, erased, deleted, or otherwise removed; thus Mark Twain lets his character always wear gloves.
The excerpt then goes to talk about a character in a book called Colcorton written in 1944 who has been passing for white "she had bruised [her fingernails] with a stone to make white marks come that she could play like they was moons"
Sollars then quotes texts which suggest "the use of nail-polish may be a possible cover for the racial marks on the fingernails"
Anyone else know anything about the half-moon manicure? What do you think of its contemporary use as a fashion statement by those trying to achieve a "retro" look?
http://blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com/2007/09/baby-moons-by-melanie-parker-half-moon.html
http://www.makeuplovesme.com/2007/09/nail-files-half-moon.html
Basically, the nail is painted either clear or pale pink (for the natural look) or vampy red, except the half-moons at the bottom of the nail bed are left plain or painted white.
The timing of this trend 1920-1940s got me thinking about whether this fashion trend was linked to some kind of proof of or performance of whiteness. I have always heard that you can tell if someone is black but "passing" for white, by their looking at their nailbeds. In addition, many many literary sources at the time point to the nailbed as a place to discern racial passing.
I haven't found any concrete internet proof to connect this nail-painting trend to proof of white racial identity, but I did find this excerpt from my bestest friends at Google Books
From Werner Sollars Neither Black, Nor White, Yet both
For some authors the sign [fingernails] is permanent, indelible, ineffaceable. According to others it can be covered, erased, deleted, or otherwise removed; thus Mark Twain lets his character always wear gloves.
The excerpt then goes to talk about a character in a book called Colcorton written in 1944 who has been passing for white "she had bruised [her fingernails] with a stone to make white marks come that she could play like they was moons"
Sollars then quotes texts which suggest "the use of nail-polish may be a possible cover for the racial marks on the fingernails"
Anyone else know anything about the half-moon manicure? What do you think of its contemporary use as a fashion statement by those trying to achieve a "retro" look?