“The eyebrows are hangers that hold up the eyes.” – Altuzarra’s Spring 12 makeup artist, Tom Pecheux

You’ve heard of the hemline index, the theory purporting that skirt lengths and the economy coincide. Tracing the arc of eyebrow trends over the years, you have to wonder what economists would make of the current fashion for bold and bushy brows.

With eyebrow growth stimulators and serums the beauty product du jour and the continued popularity of be-browed and proud “It” models Arizona Muse and Hilary Rhoda, it seems now is clearly the time of the eyebrow.

Modern Day brow icon, Arizona Muse by Peter Lindbergh

Many of us remember the last time brows were in the news back in the 1990s. Then, it was all about barely-there eyebrows, plucked until they resembled brow-icon Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s fashionably thin ones, which Newsweek pronounced “very glamorous.”

In the 1930s and beyond, Jean Harlow was the object of brow-envy

In her fluid bias-cut silk Narciso Rodriguez wedding gown and hair bleached the color of corn, Bessette channeled another style siren whose eyebrows were widely copied, Jean Harlow. In the 1930s, eyebrows were super thin – often waxed off entirely and penciled in – a look perfect for the over zealous.

Estée Lauder model Hilary Rhoda is known for her thick brows

According to Tom Pecheux, the make up artist visionary responsible for creating the straight, black eyebrows seen on Joseph Altuzarra’s spring runway, “The eyebrows are hangers that hold up the eyes.” If you decide to plump for the new bold brow, the key to making the trend work is keeping the rest of the face clear of color and making the brows the focal point of the whole look.

If you choose to embrace better living through tweezing, commit to heart these instructions before you hit the bathroom mirror. Remove a hair, and then take a step back and check your work. Repeat.

No eyebrow retrospective would be complete without Brooke Shields, who exemplified the 1980s heavy, bushy brow

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It’s up and it’s down. It’s the hemline.

Hemlines are the litmus test of fashion history as a cultural study. Economist George Taylor coined the term “hemline index” to explain how skirts got shorter or longer depending on either a “roaring” or Depression-era economy. But what does today’s style say about our current economic situation?

First seen on designer runways last season, longer-length skirts are now hot on street style blogs, with women everywhere working the new silhouette. They’re calculating how to look slim in this look (cinch the waist), what shoes suit it best (flats and wedges), and why the proportions require a complete rethink of what to wear on top (sleeveless tees and fitted vintage denim jackets feel right).

I’ve been working my own take on this trend with a thrift shop find: A Ralph Lauren, double-layered jersey knit dress that hits at the calf. It’s a look that recalls the minimalism of the 90’s with its emphasis on sleek American sportswear. No one symbolized that era of elegant “throwaway chic” like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy (so we shouldn’t be surprised that her name keeps popping up in fashion blogs and magazines).

At the time, a Newsweek article cited designer Michael Kors praising Bessette-Kennedy’s eye for “proportion,” for her skirts were always just the right length. “That is unusual in someone so young,” he says, as if speaking of a child prodigy. It’s funny how random lines from magazines inexplicably stay with you. Fifteen years on, the idea of a “right length” skirt space as observed by a theatrically directorial fashion designer seems so quaint.

Because here’s the thing. Blowing Mr. George Taylor’s theory out of the water is the emergence this spring of the flirty flared shorter skirt. Just as we’re all getting our heads wrapped around long skirts, here comes a fresh mini. Not any mini, mind you, but a bubble hemmed, brightly patterned, ruffled and twisted thigh-baring one.

Perhaps it’s time for a new theory. If there’s a “hemline index” anymore, it seems to be indicating that it’s just fine to wear any length without having to ask if it’s in keeping with the times.

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