Trendsetting members of the of the African-American community wore long talons in bright colors and funky, over-the-top designs. Nail art with 3-D and sculptures made by hand also exploded onto the fashion arena in Japan and neighboring Asian countries.
The emergence of Kawaii and Harajuku styles in Japan in the 1990s propelled nail fashion forward. Suddenly, anybody who was anybody in the fashion scene was wearing hand designed creations that could be painstaking to produce.