What the Fashion: A Retrospective on Eyebrows

Have you been to a Sephora lately? If your answer is yes, you’ll have noticed the crazy amount of eyebrow products available. Between pomades, gels, pencil and powders, the beauty industry has only helped to feed the masses’ obsession with brows.

The mania is understandable; eyebrows are a vital feature. They really do frame your face and can make or break a beauty look. But the brows we covet didn’t always look the way they do today. From pencil-thin lines to bushy brows, the way women have shaped their brows has changed throughout modern history.

STITCH takes you back in time to the advent of modern makeup and explores eyebrow trends in Western makeup.

1920s

The 1920s brought about the rise of the flapper era. Makeup, formerly reserved for “women of the night,” became more socially acceptable as it was widely produced and distributed in department stores. The era was all about the drama, particularly when it came to eyebrows. Women plucked or shaved their eyebrows almost completely off, then penciled in a long, thin line that drooped at the ends.

1930s

The 1930s were an era of extremely feminine makeup. The thin brows of the 1920s were arched even more dramatically and starlets like Greta Garbo (pictured) and Jean Harlow utilized the definition to add even more drama to the silver screen.

1940s

The scarcities of World War II brought the natural look back into vogue, not seen since the early 1900s. With cosmetics in short supply, women kept their natural brows well groomed with a prominent arch. Stars like Grace Kelly (pictured) popularized this softer, less severe look.

1950s

Eyebrow shape remained fairly similar into the 1950s, with the addition of a more tapered, but still natural, brow. Hollywood’s biggest stars - Elizabeth Taylor (pictured), Marilyn Monroe, and Audrey Hepburn - all topped off a full face of makeup with a heavily filled-in, sharply-arched brow.

1960s

Makeup in the 1960s focused more heavily on graphic liner, like the look pictured here on Twiggy. To keep the focus on the eyes, brows were kept neatly groomed but less angular than in the 1950s.

1970s

The hippie movement brought with it a return to the natural look. Women favored unplucked, barely-filled-in brows with no specific shape.

1980s

The “more is more” mantra of the 80s didn’t stop at bright eyeshadow and big hair; bushy brows à la Brooke Shields (pictured) were the norm.

1990s

After a brief stint with bolder brows, the makeup-savvy resorted back to the thin eyebrows of old. Sported by the likes of Drew Barrymore (pictured) and Scarlett Johansson, overly-plucked brows would remain the norm until the late aughts.

Now

We can’t talk about the brows of the moment without an obligatory nod to Cara Delevingne (pictured). The model arguably brought the bold brow back. But while the natural brow is back en vogue, the so-called “Instagram eyebrow” has taken over many a beauty blogger’s feed.