Leave It To Miley Cyrus To Wear Bleached Brows To The Oscars

If there’s one thing you can expect from Miley Cyrus on any given red carpet, it’s that she’s always going subvert expectations. She might do so with a nearly naked dress (a la the 2024 Grammys) or a bold hairstyle (like Y2K-esque chunky highlights or a Barbarella-inspired blowout), but it’s part of her brand to push the envelope when it comes to her looks. So of course when she graced the 97th Annual Academy Awards with her presence, she was embracing one of the most polarizing beauty trends around: bleached brows.

The Oscars tends to be a time for classically glamorous moments — think Old Hollywood waves, red lips, and clean cat eyes. And many of this year’s best beauty looks reflected that. But the “Flowers” singer simply wouldn’t be “just being Miley” if she didn’t go a little outside the box. And as always, it paid off. Cyrus matched her edgy bleached brows with an equally rock-and-roll infused ensemble: A beaded black halter neck dress by Alexander McQueen paired with short black lace gloves. But it was her otherwise soft glam that made the controversial look work so well for this formal occasion.

Cyrus’ complete makeup look included a nude lip, black liquid liner, and her quintessential contoured cheeks. With nothing else fighting for attention, her brows were certainly the centerpiece of her glam, but the total combination made them actually feel surprisingly wearable.

Bleached brows have been an on-again-off-again beauty trend since the early ‘90s when they were a favorite look in the club kid sect. Like so many other punk moments, it eventually made its way into high fashion, having been a prominent part of runways like Jean Paul Gautier, Anna Sui, and Balmain (among many, many others) over the years. A few years ago, these barely-there brows popped back up as a street style trend during Paris Fashion Week and this year they’re coming in hotter than ever, with celebs like Joey King and Kim Kardashian among those to show their support.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or feel totally indifferent towards them, it seems like bleached brows are here to stay — at least for a little longer. When a beauty trend gets an endorsement from someone as influential as the “Beautiful That Way” singer, it’s bound to become more buzzworthy than ever. And if you’re curious to try out the look without totally committing, you can always try the MUA secret of lightening them with a little concealer (which maybe Miley did?) for a quick and temporary fix.