Overview

• Borrowing from Maison Margiela’s cult split-toe shoe, the look features a narrow vertical slit down each nail, echoing the tabi sock concept with a fashion-to-beauty twist.
• Coverage describes rapid traction on TikTok and Instagram during the fall season, with editors at Allure openly split on the aesthetics as the style circulates through Fashion Month feeds.
• Designs range from black leather-like finishes and goth tips to French adaptations, glittery pastels, molten metallics, and 3D charms tucked into the split, including single-nail accents.
• Nail pros cite a drill’s needle bit to create the divide, while DIY clips show cutting a small slit in Gel-X extensions; one artist reported a client wore a Tabi French set for four weeks without issues.
• Public reaction mirrors the shoe’s long-standing polarization, with detractors calling the manicure “horrendous” and supporters praising the creativity, a discourse rooted in a design that debuted in 1988.