Opinion | How my construction paper eyebrows became famous
Nikki Reifler, junior creative producing major
There I was, sitting in a noon screening of “A Star Is Born,” watching the credits like a good film student. I mainly like to read all the crew positions and see what I’m interested by. But eventually, I read “makeup department head: Ve Neill.” It hit me. I gasped and said, “No!” My friends asked, “What?” and my memory took me back to DragCon LA in 2017, where I ran into Neill while I was walking around the Los Angeles Convention Center.
I ran up to her in my baby drags, with my ‘80s jacket and plastic hair as Pal Poxy, my drag persona. My style has since evolved, but at the time, I used construction paper for my eyebrows. I cut and designed them myself, and stuck them on with Pros-Aide, a prosthetic adhesive.
This was a trick I discovered by taking inspiration from drag queen Acid Betty, who uses paper and other objects to create a three-dimensional element on her face – and something I also used because I was awful at covering my eyebrows with glue at the time, so I would use the construction paper to cover the terrible glue job. Now, Neill is a busy woman, so I asked her: What she was doing at DragCon, of all places?
“I’m doing research for a film with some drag queens in it,” she told me. “You’ve got some interesting eyebrows, could I take your picture?”
I wanted my picture taken by Neill, but the convention center lighting was awful. Still, I got my photo taken, and we both moved on with our lives after that special 60 seconds.
Cut to a year and a half later, I was watching “A Star Is Born” and noticed that Lady Gaga’s eyebrows in the drag bar scene where she meets Bradley Cooper’s character were made out of tape, which her character Ally Campana says to Cooper, as Jackson Maine, that she makes them herself. When I watched the scene for the first time I thought, “Yeah, me too, girl.” Then, when I saw Neill’s name in the credits I really said, “Yeah! Me too, girl!”
Potentially being a reference photo is more than I could ask for. I have no confirmation that I’m actually the leading inspiration for Lady Gaga’s drag eyebrows in the movie, but I know for sure that I was a starting point for Neill to look into unconventional eyebrow techniques.
The makeup team had to have been thinking of something interesting to do with Lady Gaga’s makeup in the drag bar that could also translate into being beautiful and easy to take off afterwards for Ally’s character. Considering the fact that “A Star Is Born” is all I’ve thought about for the past three months, a friend told me I should publicize this. Plus, Lady Gaga is my biggest inspiration – I have the artpop tattoo on my left arm to prove it.
I really didn’t mean to make this such a big deal or flaunt the smallest amount of fame I could’ve possibly received, but I posted on Facebook about my experience (as more of an ongoing meme where all of my posts are only associated with “A Star Is Born”).
The post blew up, with 213 likes and counting. I’m just happy that people are seeing the film, and my eyebrow connection is a fun fact that I can cherish.
I loved the inclusion of drag queens in this popular film, because it’s a step in the right direction – where queens are showcased positively and aren’t the punchline of a joke.