Modern Brows

Every few years, the world of fashion is completely taken by a new model. In the ’80s, everyone was in love with Cindy Crawford’s beauty mark and voluminous hair. The early ’90s were defined by Kate Moss’ cool demeanor and perfect cheekbones. Gisele Bundchen has been a constant presence in magazines and television commercials for the past 15 years. Now the world is obsessed with Cara Delevigne’s strong features and white-blonde hair. Like all great supermodels, she has even sparked a huge trend: full eyebrows.

This trend is interesting because it does not go very far beyond simply admiring Delevigne herself. People cannot will themselves to grow different types of eyebrows. A lash brow serum can certainly help stimulate existing hair follicles to make individual hairs thicker and darker, and cosmetic tattoos can create realistically fuller brows when done well. Every major makeup brand is introducing products made expressly for making brows look thicker and darker. There are pencils, gels and powders all designed to help users create the perfect Delevigne brows.

Delevigne’s rise to fame occurred right when women were already starting to experiment with semi-permanent beauty processes. Megan Fox originally created interest in prominent, dramatically angled brows. Women wanted her eyebrows so badly that they invested in pricey cosmetics and, when that was not enough, had hair from their heads transplanted into the sparse areas of their brows so they would look naturally full without the use of makeup. These procedures resulted in brows that looked great and stayed in place all day long, but they came with a bizarre type of upkeep. Since head hair has much longer growth phases than brow hairs do, the transplanted hairs need to be trimmed regularly.

Fox’s brows are slightly different from Delevigne’s, since they are still very manicured despite being thick. They are easier to imitate because they are amplified versions of typical brows. Delevigne’s eyebrows are thick and bushy, and she has been said to never tweeze or shape them at all. It goes without saying that most women would not look as stunning as Delevigne if they ceased to do any kind of brow maintenance.

Interestingly, there is a divide between couture brow preferences and more populist ones. Fans of high fashion love Delevigne’s look precisely because it is so polarizing. Women who do not want to wear extreme fashion trends on their faces are drawn to the Kardashian-inspired gradient brows. Like Fox’s eyebrows, this look is universally applicable and can be achieved with careful makeup application. Interestingly, this brow style was originally popularized by drag queens, who also originated the highlight-heavy makeup look favored by Kim and her sisters.

The contrast between Delevigne and the Kardashians highlights the divide between high fashion and mainstream styles. For all of the criticism tossed at the Kardashian sisters, no one denies that they are incredibly beautiful. Delevigne, on the other hand, has an editorial face. It is not quite feminine, and even her biggest fans admit that she is not a traditional beauty, but there is something about the way she photographs that is undeniably powerful.

Whether or not Delevigne’s eyebrows are a temporary trend or become a beauty mainstay, she has now entered the pantheon of supermodels who left a mark on the fashion world outside of photographs.