Yesterday’s Globe and Mail featured a preview of the upcoming trends for 2001 in its Style section. Generally – not being of the mind that style and trendiness are synonymous – I could give two flying hoots about the latest trends. In fact, as I read about the “…cheeky bras over t-shirts…” gracing the runways, all I could think was, Will you please give me a break? Do I want to look like I have underwear dyslexia?
But I was reading the Style page for a reason: because when I picked up the paper, something caught my eye. Or my eyebrow, I should say. The banner on the front page encouraged me to check out the Style section to “get set for the year of the invisi-brow.” Yes, the invisi-brow. As in, no eyebrows. Models, apparently, are bleaching or otherwise disappearing the fuzzy little caterpillars that reside above each eye in what is giddily billed as “surely the edgiest make-up trend of the season.” Yeah, okay… or, Surely the most inane, pointless and desperate trend of the season. (Followed closely by those cheeky bras over t-shirts.)
What to expect next from these daring denizens of the fashion world? The year of the plucked-out eyelashes? Perhaps a celebration of the bikini-ready chemo-zillian, just in time for beach season? (Actually I confess: that one I did count as a cancer perk…saved so much money on waxing!) I feel like writing to the Style reporters to inform them that, avante garde trend-setter that I clearly am, last year was my own personal “year of the invisi-brow” and frankly, it completely sucked.
Or, maybe I’m looking at this all wrong; maybe I’m just bitter because last year when I was bald and blinking dust out of my lash-less, brow-less eyes, nobody thought it was particularly chic. Perhaps I should cut this little clip out of the paper and pass it around the chemo ward on Thursday for all my browless chemo compadres and see what they think. After all, having the fashion world declare a common chemo side effect edgy and desirable might make people feel better about hair loss, if only in that one localized area.
And anyway, I should be looking for silver linings: it’s entirely possible I’ll be joining the hairless ranks once again – I’m shedding like a husky in July. Though I cringe and get a little teary-eyed at the mere prospect of losing my hair and having that bald cancer-face stare back at me from the mirror again (telling me every day how sick I am) if it must be, so be it. Time will tell. If I go bald, at least I know I’ll endure it. Hell, I may even figure out a way to own it this time – anything to avoid it owning me again.
Encouragingly, my oncologist says it’s unlikely I’ll lose my hair completely, but she’s not cleaning my hairbrush every day, or seeing my pillow every morning… Mind you, I’ve got lots of it, so I count myself lucky; with what I’ve lost so far, some people would already be dealing with rather barren cranial terrain.
At least I’ve still got my thick, sumptuous, decidedly visible eyebrows – and trendy or not, I want them to stay exactly where they are.
3 Responses to “ The Invisi-Brow? Been There, Done That ”
That’s so funny, I saw that in the paper yesterday morning and thought the same thing as you (although not in such a witty way). Almost 8 months after finishing chemo my eyebrows have still not yet completely filled in. After seeing this article I confess to wandering into the bathroom and contemplating not penciling in my brows before leaving the house…but ultimately I did. Don’t know if that says more about bucking trends or thumbing my nose at cancer…
By Carol W. on Jan 10, 2010
I’m so glad you posted this bizarre trend of fashion!
Invisi-brow….what’s next, cutting off of one’s ear as a fashion statement?!
It works for D.Bowie, as he has personality and is having fun sticking out from the crowd back in the day. It works for Grace Jones, she’s ballsy and actually can sing and can defend her own sense of having fun and testing the crowd tolerance for “weird”.
Suckers out there continously hope that image buys personality. Can’t blame the industry on making money from people who will do just about anything to “be different…together”.
Fashion actually used to be cool. What happened to it? It has become quite boring…
Well, to all of you “avant-garde trend setters” (lol!)- I applaude in having a great sense of humour and clarity of thought towards the often impossibly bizarre and pretty useless “high-fashion” world!
By Lejla on Jan 11, 2010
I love the adventurous nature of the runways but I don’t think most designers expect the looks to catch on so don’t worry!
But it did trigger a thought. I recently came across a product that might be able to help those who are looking to amp up their eyebrows (not downplay them as per the runway.)
I met this woman who sells her eyebrow products at Sears, called the SHAPEUPBROW kit. She was explaining that a lot of women post-cancer use her product because it comes with a few clear stencil options that you can actually wear on a headband around your head and adjust to fit where your eyebrows would naturally go. Sounds crazy but it’s so much better than holding a stencil on to your face like other kits I’ve seen. You can also draw a stencil line with a white pencil in the kit to make sure you’ve hit the right spot. It’s a cool idea over just trying to draw a shape that you think might work on your face.
She’s based in Montreal and her website is http://www.tokiacosmetics.com
Hopefully you won’t be needing it but for anyone else reading I’ll do a blog on it upcoming. Interesting product!
By Kate Daley on Jan 12, 2010