The net-o-sphere went into meltdown upon the release of British Vogue's September issue featuring Rihanna on the cover. Having graced the fronts of many a magazine, it was not the beauty from Barbados who caused the twitter storm. It was her eyebrows - or lack thereof.
In the space where her eyebrows used to be, Rihanna instead had a thin, arched pencil line.
As the world reacts in fury, horror and plain confusion, it is worth reiterating that this is an editorial image for the September issue of Vogue magazine.
Traditionally the most important of any magazine's schedule, the September issue heralds in new trends and daring ideas. To get those trends across, magazines spend countless hours and thousands of pounds on glossy fashion editorials whose sole purpose is to catch the audience's eye. As the whole world now seems to be discussing this cover, congratulations are in order to editor-in-chief Edward Enninful and his team, as they have done their job well.
Another point worth remembering is that having pencil-thin eyebrows is a trend, and like every other trend, it will eventually come back around again. Jean Harlow had them in the 1930s, and Pamela Anderson and Kate Moss had them in the 1990s. For the past few years, we have been marvelling at the luxurious brow of Cara Delevingne, but if fashion has taught me anything, it’s that nothing stays the same, and inevitably a backlash to the heavy brows will come.
Rihanna is a trendsetter and has always been fearless about switching things up. She has stepped out in men's suits, body-con and bizarre avant-garde pieces with equal ease. Plus, with her own beauty line - Fenty - she knows a thing or two about beauty trends. So there is smart thinking behind this, and where Rihanna goes, the rest tend to follow. So with her now favouring an arched pencil line for Vogue, perhaps the backlash will begin sooner than we think.
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