29 Sep Masculine Brows and In!
Women try to look more masculine as they embrace the ‘lowbrow’ look and even turn to surgery to achieve it.
Plastic surgeons say women’s eyebrows are becoming lower, fatter and less arched. Researchers claim the ideal eyebrow has moved closer to the eye over the last 60 years.
Women are ‘subconsciously opting for masculine brows as they compete with men in the workplace’.
It used to be something to avoid – but being lowbrow has become rather fashionable.
A study has found that ladies’ eyebrows are being plucked and pencilled to sit closer to the eyes than they did in decades gone by.
Researchers have suggested that working women are subconsciously sculpting their eyebrows into the more masculine shape.
Demi Moore and Kiera Knightely, are well known for their thick masculine brows.
The conclusions come from U.S. surgeons who examined the features of models and actresses in fashion magazines dating back to 1946, using callipers and rulers to measure the fine details of their eyebrows.
The study found that for many years high, arched pairs were popular. The style, which was thought to make women look younger, peaked in the mid-1960s.
Nowadays, the University of Southern California team says stars’ eyebrows are lower and flatter. In a look exhibited by actress Demi Moore, the highest points have also moved outwards, away from the nose.
‘According to fashion magazines, the ideal youthful female eyebrow is gradually becoming lower and flatter than it used to be, making it less different [from] the male eyebrow,’ the team stated.
‘This is, in part, a response to increasing parity between men and women in the workplace.
‘With the eyebrow shape alone less able to convey femininity, the fullness or luminance [ability to reflect light] of the female brow may become increasingly important.’
The researchers said the modern look of lower, straighter brows was particularly beneficial for those with long faces as it avoids adding to the impression of length.
The study, reported in the journal Clinical Plastic Surgery, was conducted to help surgeons carry out forehead lifts.
Mark Soldin, a spokesman for the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons states ‘Upward curvature of the eyebrows was considered to be an attractive feminine feature in the past. ‘We are finding that more and more women are looking for a flatter, straighter, more masculine look. ‘I think it has to do with the increasing equality of the sexes.’