Eyebrow enthusiast Laura Bradley considers the return of the bleached brow, seen at the Yves Saint Laurent S/S12 show earlier this week...
Eyebrows are better thick and dark – that's been my mantra ever since actress Mia Wasikowska graced the cover of AnOther Magazine last season (see here). I've been dispensing advice to any female that will listen: grow them out, get them lightly threaded (top and bottom), invest in a Chanel brow kit. I've even experimented with vertical brushing – with the help of a smidgen of mascara – for brows akin to Bambi Northwood and Arizona Muse.
Then, longstanding promoter of barely-there brows, make-up artist Pat McGrath decides to bring back the non existent look for S/S12 – bleaching models' eyebrows backstage at Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent's S/S12 show. These were teamed with dark painted lips and scraped back hair courtesy of Guido, held tight by a half-moon of Barbary gold, seen here in these backstage images.
The barely-there brow is of course nothing new – raven-haired, Brazilian model Adriana Lima sported bleached brows in Givenchy's A/W09 campaign – accompanying male and female models had their brows removed completely. Other barely-there brow promoters include models Lara Stone (advised by Carine Roitfeld) and Kristen McMenemy (famously shot by Juergen Teller with a Versace heart on her bare chest), as well as Chloë Sevingy in Harmony Korine's 1999 film Julien Donkey-Boy and a young Jodie Foster in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver. In the 1570s, during Elizabeth I's reign over England, women actually removed their eyebrows and eyelashes as a means of being fashionable; some even purposely receded their hairlines. The hairless and chiseled look echoes that of acclaimed Greek statues.
Barely there or dark and thick – the choice is yours...
