UCA graduate adds 5,000 false nails to fashion project

Demitris Zacharia recently graduated from UCA with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design. His final major project, titled ‘The Good, The Bad and The Glamorous’, caught the eye of Scratch due to its unusual and innovative use of false nails.

Demistris shares his inspiration and ideation, and why false nails played such a key role in his designs…

“I wanted to build on the theme of witchcraft, which I had previously worked on, but take it in a fresh, theatrical direction,” Demitris says of his final major project. “I was particularly inspired by the contrasting portrayals of Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, in the 1939 Wizard of Oz film and the Broadway musical, Wicked, with its famous line ‘pink goes good with green’.”

Demitris’ collection drew on petal motifs seen on Glinda the Good Witch’s bubble dress, alongside Dior’s Junon gown. He also drew inspiration from early 2000s pop culture icons such as Paris Hilton and Mary J. Blige.

The addition of false nails was intended to ‘add a unique, witchy edge’. Demitris hand-applied over 5,000 stiletto nail tips in pink, green and glittery hues. “The project allowed me to combine theatrical storytelling, historical costume references and playful pop culture nods into a cohesive collection,” he comments.

Why false nails?

“When researching stereotypical imagery of witches, I noticed a recurring detail: they almost always have long, pointed fingernails,” Demitris observes. “It’s such a small feature, but it instantly conveys a sense of power, danger and mystique. I wanted to take that iconic element and reinterpret it in a high-fashion context.”

Demitris set about applying thousands of false nails to his garments, adding ‘a unique, textural quality – catching the light, creating movement and giving the pieces a tactile, almost armour-like surface’.

Demitris says his use of false nails was not only culturally significant, but also a nod to his personal life. “I grew up in a hair and beauty salon owned by my mother, so from a young age I was surrounded by people getting their nails done,” he reminisces. “I was always fascinated by how much importance people placed on them – not just as a beauty ritual, but as a way of expressing their individuality and creative identities.

“Nails could be bold, subtle, elegant or fierce, and they told a story about the person wearing them. Bringing that world into my collection felt like a natural extension of my upbringing, while also tying perfectly into the themes of witchcraft, power and transformation.”

One of the biggest challenges Demitris faced during his final major project was working out how to attach the nails to the garments. “False nails aren’t designed for fabric, so I had to adapt them for sewing,” Demitris notes. “I ended up creating two small holes in each nail – one at the top and one at the bottom – so I could hand-sew them individually onto the garments. This meant thousands of nails, sewn on one by one, which was incredibly time-consuming and quite fiddly to handle.”

Demitris’ collection is a bold commentary on what high fashion can be. He used nails as more than an accessory, instead as a ‘storytelling device’. Demitris says: “By embedding them into the structure and surface of the garments, the nails stopped being a fleeting accessory and instead became integral to the design, helping tell a cohesive story about identity, transformation and theatrical beauty.”

Follow Demitris on Instagram.

Project credits:

• Designer/stylist: @demitriszacharia.fashion
• Photographer: @_amyosborne
• Models: @cetkauskaite, @_risaharrold, @misstemiakin, @aiin92e
• Hair and make-up: @millie_makeup4