Lately, the skinny brow has become a fixture not only on runways but in major campaigns and red carpet moments. At the AW25 shows, ultra-thin brows were seen at Dilara Fındıkoğlu, where gothic sensuality met baroque elegance, and at KNWLS, paired with tight corsetry and dystopian edge. Miu Miu’s recent campaigns have embraced the skinny brow as part of their retro-futurist aesthetic, while Marc Jacobs’ casting of Gabbriette in his Heaven line cemented the look as a staple this Summer.
On TikTok, dozens of beauty influencers riff on these looks, fusing early-’00s pencil thinness with modern softness, mirroring Gen Z’s appetite for stylised extremity, not hyper‑naturalism.
Beyond runways and fashion campaigns, the skinny brow has firmly re-entered mainstream beauty culture, with figures like Cindy Kimberly, Alexa Demie, Doja Cat, Gabbriette, and Bella Hadid popularising its comeback. On TikTok, searches for skinny brow tutorials have amassed nearly 70 million views, marking a clear shift in beauty ideals. The roots of the skinny brow extend far deeper than the latest revival, its legacy is embedded in centuries of beauty history.
While the modern skinny brow may be traced back to the early 20th century, its historical predecessors reveal a longstanding cultural fascination with eyebrow manipulation. In medieval Europe, a high, nearly non-existent brow was associated with piety and status, leading women to pluck or even shave their brows entirely to achieve an elongated forehead. The Tudor era took this further, with figures like Queen Elizabeth I epitomising the trend, her barely-there brows signified aristocratic refinement, framed by the powdered pallor of her complexion.
In contrast, rumour has it, the 18th century saw a fascination with exaggerated artificiality, as women in the French court turned to mousseline brows — false eyebrows made of mouse fur, delicately glued onto the forehead for an aristocratic flourish. Although the evidence is disputed or lacking. However, by the 19th century, the Victorians championed a more natural, modest approach, and heavy brow grooming largely fell out of fashion.
The modern history of the skinny brow is inextricably linked to the Golden Age of Hollywood, where the 1920s and 1930s solidified its place as an icon of feminine allure. Silent film stars such as Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, Carole Lombard, and Jean Harlow became synonymous with ultra-thin, precisely pencilled brows.
“The 1920s was the era of silent films, and as a result, thin brows grew in popularity,” explains Autumn Estelle Reid, the US National Global Brow and Beauty Authority for Benefit Cosmetics. “Since actors had to communicate emotion without dialogue, the brows played a crucial role in expression. Often removed entirely and then redrawn into dark, downturned lines, they enhanced dramatic intensity, whether evoking deep thought, longing, or melancholy.” This aesthetic became emblematic of the era’s glamour — highly stylised, arching into a sultry, melancholic shape that defined early filmic femininity.
After a brief post-war return to fuller brows in the 1950s, the skinny brow made a dramatic comeback in the 1970s and 1990s, each time morphing to reflect the cultural climate of the era. The ‘70s saw the influence of punk and disco, with artists like Debbie Harry and Cher favouring hyper-thin brows that exuded an effortless cool. In the ‘90s, the trend took on a sharper, more defined edge, popularised by supermodels like Kate Moss and heroin-chic aesthetics.
The impact of Latinx beauty trends was also significant. “Both flapper-era makeup and ‘90s Latina makeup deserve credit for the skinny brow trend,” says Regina Merson, founder of Reina Rebelde. Chola beauty, with its meticulously drawn brows, played a foundational role in shaping the decade’s most defining looks.
By the early 2000s, the skinny brow had reached its peak, worn by icons like Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears. However, the trend also came with a downside: the aggressive over-plucking that defined Y2K beauty left many struggling with sparse regrowth, leading to a shift in brow ideals in the following decade.
With the rise of Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins, the 2010s heralded the reign of the full, bushy brow, a stark contrast to the needle-thin shapes of the previous decades. The pendulum swing continued with trends like laminated brows and the clean girl aesthetic, where naturally thick, sculpted brows became the ultimate marker of effortless beauty. However, as with all cyclical trends, the return of the skinny brow felt inevitable.
Now, amidst a broader ‘90s and Y2K revival, the skinny brow is back — though in a more diverse, intentional form. Unlike the over-plucked brows of the past, the modern iteration embraces variation: bleached, ultra-arched, soft and wispy, or jagged and gothic. The resurgence reflects a rejection of hyper-naturalism and a return to stylisation, and high-fashion dramatics.
From medieval foreheads to Hollywood icons, punk subcultures to TikTok trends, the skinny brow’s evolution will not end.
