With less to frown about, Japanese women opt for bushy eyebrows
The facial feature was last seen in the booming 1980s, analysts say
With Japan’s economy apparently on the up, the public’s optimism is being reflected in the way they look. For women, that means a return of the big and bushy eyebrows that were last a facial fixture in the booming 1980s.
Like the manes of wavy hair and padded shoulders affected by foreign pop stars and actresses of the era, Japanese women in the 1980s turned their backs on the pencil-thin eyebrows of the past and let their facial hair thicken.
Three decades later, bushy brows are back in vogue and analysts say there is no coincidence in the timing.
“When the economy picks up, bright coloured lipsticks and thick eyebrows become predominant, with sharp and upbeat makeup tending to become popular,” said Setsuko Suzuki, senior hair and makeup artist for Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido Co.
The look that is presently favoured by Japanese women is in sharp contrast to the styles they adopted in 2011, immediately after the nation was rocked by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant. In the months after the crisis, women’s makeup was overwhelmingly of conservative skin shades and neutral tones.
Today, Japanese women have shaken off those dark days and are breaking out the bright lipsticks and letting their eyebrows grow.