Brows on Flee? Would You Dare Rock Shaved Eyebrows?

Clearly, we love a new fashion trend here at The Glow Up, and we’re not averse to taking risks. That said, we have our limits, and a deliberate lack of edges or eyebrows may be one of them. So when we became aware of new fashion muse Jazzelle Zanaughtti, we were intrigued ... and also inspired.

With shaved brows, gold grills, a platinum pixie cut, makeup skills and fashion sense reminiscent of my college roommate’s ’90s raver style (when we met at a predominantly white, private institution—she’s still one of my besties), Jazzelle, a mixed-race fashion outlier from Detroit, challenges everything we think about “pretty.” Discovered by fashion photographer Nick Knight, Jazzelle now models for it labels Comme des Garçons and Public School, among others.

Jazzelle’s current look was inspired by Chicago drag culture; the model has chosen a no-brows approach as a means of daily self-expression, which can entail hearts in place of brows, Tim Burton-like drawn-on stitches or just an extended eye shadow look. While we’re seriously attached to our brows, we’re admittedly swooning over a few of her looks (expect us to be rocking marigold eye shadow all spring and summer, up to our brows).

All of that said, everything old is inevitably new again. As much as it may seem like a recent trend, shaved eyebrows have been happening since the 1920s, and more recently, 1990s supermodel Kristen McMenamy adopted a shaved and then heavily bleached eyebrow regimen to give herself a slightly startled, definitively stark look.

So is this the look for you? Admittedly, we’re loving Jazzelle strictly on GP after she shared some of her Motor City realness with the Cut:

You know, because I’m mixed-race and very pale, there are a lot of encounters I’ve had where people will say a lot of off-key things to me and it’s very, very, very uncomfortable. Especially when you have to work with them for the rest of the day. I’m usually the person to put someone in check, but I’m not going to pop off because this is my job and I have to pay my rent. But I want to educate these people. I definitely pass as white, so I have that privilege and I have to support my people and rep where I come from.

We hear you, Jazzelle, and respect your awareness and ownership of all things unconventional. Respect. We’re going to hold on to our own (overplucked) eyebrows for now, but do you, boo.