What is up with Kim Novak’s eyebrows as Judy in Vertigo? Was this considered an attractive way for a woman to wear her eyebrows? They look like they were painted on to look like Groucho Marx but in a lighter color.
Here is a picture that does not really do them justice:
The styles of the day helped though. In the 1930s it was considered fairly gross for a lady to sport actual hair on her brows instead of drawing them on, whereas in the 40s it was no longer an issue. But Crawford definitely went overboard enhancing whatever she really had.
I think women used to “pluck” their eyebrows, and then paint them back on in the style of the day. I’ve seen more extreme examples than these in old photos.
Yeah, I remember stencils for eyebrows. I have a photo of my mom from the 40’s, and her eyebrows look like they’re all pencil. Did they think it made their eyes look bigger?
My mom told me a story about an actress that plucked all her eyebrows for a role and they never grew back so she always had to draw them on. I don’t remember who that was though.
I also remember those stencils for eyebrows and there were some for lips, too. It made playing dress-up with mom’s make-up so much easier.
What an excellent post: a series of photos showing a progression of Joan Crawford’s eyebrows. Only on the Dope.
It looks to me as though as she got older and as she learned to bend the studio system to her will, (or perhaps as the system drove her more and more insane :rolleyes: ), the eyebrows got more and more assertive…