Glass Nails
Fashion Style: Jewellery
Area of Influence: Kenash
Restrictions of Involvement: Dynasty members
Inventor’s Name: Yatmina Sitai
Year of Introduction: 459AV
Still in Fashion: Yes
Summary of Fashion Introduction: Yatmina Sitai was born in 433 to the freeborn couple Yomir and Minivive Calbot, themselves wealthy distant relatives of the Sitai Dynasty. She was a healthy and feisty baby who would grow to become a beautiful young woman who dreamed of the finer things. Many suitors came to her in the flower of her youth, as was expected for a woman as wealthy and beautiful as herself, but the headstrong woman would have none of them. Instead she spent her days pining for the lifestyle of the Dynasty members who traversed the islands, dripping in silks and jewels with a company of slaves who existed only to please their masters. Discontent morphed to jealously as the young woman, not satisfied with the title of freeborn, schemed and plotted her accession to Dynasty status.
Yatmina devised a plan, after having singled out the handsome and free spirited eldest son of the head of the Sitai family, to win his affections and marry into a Dynasty. Yatmina endeavoured to endear herself to the heir with grace, beauty and sabotage. She studied dance and the arts and bought only the most expensive powders, perfumes and jewels to adorn herself with while using bribery, threats and the blood thirsty Kenash rumour mill to discreetly remove her romantic rivals. But no matter how how nice her dresses or how impeccable her mask of womanly charm she struggled to get the highborn man to acknowledge her presence or see her as anything other than an uppity freeborn.
Yatmina, distraught and desperate as her dream of a life of luxury and privilege began to fade, approached a jeweller with a rather unorthodox request. She told him to design her a piece that 'will draw the eyes of all who see it, and prevent me from using my hands'. The jeweller set to work, enlisting the help of a glassblower and a carver to bring the young woman's vision to life. After many trials and failed attempts, the artisans created a set of beautifully carved and painted glass claws fastened to the nail bed with an adhesive made of tree sap. The four inch claws were delicate and needle thin, liable to break under the most gentle of pressures making them the most useless and inconvenient jewellery ever made. Yatmina made sure to wear the eye catching pieces every day, showing them off to all she encountered. Letting the world know that she was a woman of wealth and status who would never stoop to such pedestrian tasks such as carrying bags or opening doors, that she was influential enough to have someone else do such menial work on her behalf.
Such a display of extravagance and elitism eventually caught the eye of the Dynasty members, including the Sitai heir, who marvelled at the power and wealth they implied. Yatmina would go on to realize her dream and became the wife of the head of the Sitai family as the highborn women of Kenash rushed to emulate her style. Seeking to create even more elaborate and inconvenient pieces in the cut throat world of Dynasty politics. Over the years the trend had faded out of prominence and is mostly used by Dynasty members as a statement piece at important social events to flaunt their status rather than for daily use.
