WHY ARE THESE WORN

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3251, 5 November 1932, Page 7

WHY ARE THESE WORN

"DRESSING THE EYEBROWS ? It was recently announced that eyelashes may now be supplied in small b/ottles. Each bottle contained a selection so that the smart woman could change her eyelashes according to her taste —or presumably her attire, or the social function she was about to attend. Another beauty specialist has explained that artificial eyelashes may be so worn as to be secure when bathing, or in excessive heat. It is also explained that patches are a fitting accompaniment to eyelashes of the artificial variety for those who would be quite, quite smart. Well, there is nothing at all new about this. " Dress your eyebrows with modesty and your lips with reservedness," was advice in an old guide to what a smart woman should wear. There is abundant evidence that the art of dressing the eyebrows, or improving on the eyelashes of nature, was practised by the ancient Egyptian women. The art reaches its apex among the Romans. They had ingenious ways of improving the lustre of their eyes, and of making those which were small or sunken appear more prominent than they really were. We are told that this was effected by burning the powder of antimony, the vapour of which, beingallowed to ascend to the eyes, had the effect of distending the eyelids. Sometimes soot was gently spread with a bodkin underneath the lids, and the tint which this imparted was supposed to give an expression of liquid softness to the eyes.

As a fact, with most of the Eastern women in early times., pencilling the eyebrows was a constant practice. It is also found that they were not ignorant to the effect produced by a skillfully-disposed patch. Even the women of Palestine were wont to dye their eyebrows. The modern craze appears to be suggested for women only, but with the Romans the men also practised it. Turn to the pages of Pliny, and there it is on record how even a stern and serious lawyer used the art "for professional purposes." According as he was to plead for plaintiff or defendant, he used to wear a white or a black patch over the right or the left eye.

There was a certain fickleness about fashions in dressing the eyebrows. Artificial lashes came, and went, and came again. French and English women had their periodical whims on the subject. At a time when the extravagances of dress were carried to their utmost extreme on both sides of the Channel there was a great craze for coloured eyelashes. But the taste for patches of various kinds remained fairly constant. Indeed, it survived in some form until nearly all kinds of facial patches and beauty spots went out.