InStyle Australia – June 2017

When I was a kid, I didn’t have any concept of

beauty. Maybe it was because I was self-conscious

—or because everyone else was taking care of my hair

and make-up for me. I wouldn’t even look in the mirror

when someone did my make-up. They’d ask me, “How

do you feel?” And I’d say, “Looks great!” It was kind of

boring to sit in those chairs at the time. The fun part

was when you got to act and play.

Thankfully, my mum was always very protective

of my look. She practically threatened to break the

fingers of any make-up artist who approached me

with tweezers. She didn’t have the foresight to think

the eyebrows were going to be iconic. Her feeling was,

“This is who she is. If you want this, this is what you

get. We’re not going to change anything.”

I remember one time, when I was a model with

Ford, Eileen [Ford, the head of the agency] wanted me

to bleach my eyebrows because my hair got very light

in the summer. My mum said no. Eileen said, “Yeah, but

her hair is blonde. Her eyebrows should match.” And

my mum said, “Excuse me, but you’re not touching her

eyebrows.” Of course, my mum and Eileen always kind

of butted heads, but they really respected each other.

My mum just wanted to preserve whatever I had.

It’s interesting that we’re still talking about the

brows. At the time, they were such a contrast from

the looks of the ’60s and early ’70s. The famous Time

cover that declared me “The ’80s Look” came about

after I walked in a Valentino show. We went into a

backroom and I put a sweater on, and Francesco

Scavullo took the photograph. My face was so white,

and the brows were really strong, and I thought it was

ridiculous. How can you even be the “Look of the

’80s”? Who’s to say? It’s so arbitrary.

Richard Avedon liked my brows too, particularly

this surprised expression that I would do. One

brow would go up more than the other. And when

he photographed me, he would say, “Okay, give

me the brows.”

When I was doing the TV show Suddenly Susan,

I let somebody “clean up” my brows. It was a disaster.

She arched them up to here and cut them. She was

a famous eyebrow person, and I was devastated.

Thank God it all grew back.

There was also the time that I went to the

American Music Awards with Michael Jackson when

I was 19. He asked, “Do you want to get your make-up

done?” And I thought, “Oh, that could be fun.” So I

went to his trailer to see his make-up artist—of course

the chimp was there too!— and she made me look like

Michael. My eyebrows looked psychotic. She darkened

them and made them go up like this and then gave me

a pale face and dark lips. She basically did his make-up

on my face. I remember thinking, “There’s something

really wrong with this,” but I also felt sort of cool that

his make-up artist did my make-up.

I have never really done much to my brows. I rarely

pluck unless there is a weird loose hair. That said,

I do love Tweezerman, especially the baby tweezers.

I have the leopard and zebra-print versions. If I do

anything, I take my Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour

Cream, or maybe some Aquaphor, and one of those

mini mascara brushes and comb them. I don’t fill them

in with an eyebrow pencil—some make-up artists will

a little, but I don’t. When I brush my brows up, my kids

think I look crazy. I have to tell them that’s the style.

Thank God for Cara Delevingne with her brows,

because I can point to her and say, “Look at her look!

She’s cool and she’s got strong brows!” It’s so funny

now with my girls. They say, “Mum, I’ve got eyebrows

in-between my eyebrows.” And so I say, “Well, let’s

just leave them be.” I really appreciate how Frida

Kahlo never cleaned up the middle. She had a unibrow

and was proud of it. Authenticity has always been

important to me, and it all started with eyebrows.

—AS TOLD TO SARAH CRISTOBAL

My mum practically

threatened to break the fingers

of any make-up artist who

approached me with tweezers”

MY BROWS by BROOKE SHIELDS

Beauty

JUNE 2017 In STYLE 129