The Most Memorable Eyebrows of All Time

By Cheryl Wischhover

Anyone who has ever DIY’d their eyebrows knows this: Those few hundred hairs above the eyes are essential to communicating emotion. One false move with the tweezers and bam! — you look permanently angry, confused, or surprised. Plus, they’re key to maintaining overall facial symmetry, which studies have shown to be strongly correlated to overall attractiveness. The Atlantic recently dedicated 1,300 words to the subject in an article that covered their importance in nonverbal communication and facial recognition, the haunting fact that ancient Egyptians shaved their eyebrows off to mourn the death of a pet cat, and the tale of how one woman’s eyebrow transplant changed her life for the better.

Over the years, brow trends have come and gone — now fat, now thin, now mono-brow-lithic — but some iconic arches endure the test of time. Below are some of our picks for the best brows. For all 50 of the most memorable eyebrows of all time, head over to The Cut. 

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Photo:Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Audrey Hepburn

The poster girl for gamine’s eyebrows are fuller than you’d expect.

Related: See All of Audrey Hepburn’s Most Iconic Looks

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Related: GIF Tutorial: How to Fake Cara Delevingne Brows

Photo: Danny Martindale/Getty Images 

Cara Delevingne

Cara is singlehandedly responsible for the bold-brow hysteria, which has resulted in multiple breathless tutorials on beauty websites and a serious uptick in sales of eyebrow-thickening products.

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Photo:Photoshot/Getty Images

Brooke Shields

Before there was Cara, there was Brooke, whose bushy, dark, strong brow was 30 years ahead of its time.

Related: The Best Products for Faking Perfect Brows

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Photo:Georg Wendt/Corbis

Bert From Sesame Street 

Despite the fact that his unibrow moves as a single unit, this jaundiced Muppet still manages to express an affecting amount of emotion.

Related: 25 Famous Women on Getting Older

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Related: Lauren Bacall Could Teach You a Thing or 2 About Style

Photo:Scotty Welbourne/Getty Images

Lauren Bacall

Bacall’s arches were consistently perfectly arched and groomed in every single imageyou see of her. It’s uncanny.

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Photo:Mike Hewitt/Getty Images 

Cristiano Ronaldo

When manscaping goes awry.

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Related: See Warhol Polaroids of Fashion Luminaries From the ’70s and ’80s

Photo:Chris Walter/Getty Images

Grace Jones

Depending on which pictures you look at,Grace’s brows are either eerily erased or drawn on in a line that almost reaches her ears. Either way: fabulous.

Related: Iconic Photos of Classic New York: Grace Jones, Jackie O., & More

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Related: 26 of the Best Short Haircuts in History

Photo:Juergen Vollmer/Getty Images

Madonna Circa Who’s That Girl

Yes, it was an homage to Marilyn, but one look at daughter Lourdes and it’s clear strong-brow genes run in the Ciccone family.

Related: Madonna’s Diet Is the Hardest I Have Ever Tried

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Related: I Tried Greta Garbo’s Strange, Horrifying Diet

Photo:General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

Greta Garbo

These thin, often penciled-in brows looked best when paired with a jaunty hat.

For the rest of our 50 most memorable eyebrows of all time, head over to The Cut.