Author: Zahra Hankir
In her 2023 book, “Eyeliner: A Cultural History,” Lebanese British author Zahra Hankir helps us understand how and why eyeliner became so popular.
An accomplished journalist with degrees in politics and Middle Eastern studies, Hankir often writes about the intersection of politics and culture.
Her latest work is about something personal to her but also equally universal: eyeliner.
She reminds us how, throughout history, icons such as Queen Nefertiti of ancient Egypt, pop idol Amy Winehouse, Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor, as well as the anonymous men of nomadic tribes, and you or I — anyone, really — could pick up an eyeliner pencil and feel instantly transformed.
Hankir takes us on a journey that spans generations and continents. It starts with her at 17, being “dragged” to a family engagement party, vividly remembering her mother’s hazel eyes framed in forest green on her eyelids and jet-black kohl along her waterlines.
Hankir, who grew up Arab and Muslim in a predominately white neighborhood in the UK, candidly writes in the first part of the book about how eyeliner was a way for her to feel a sense of belonging.
“Originated in the East, I often felt as if I were traversing space and time and conversing with my ancestors while wearing it in the West,” Hankir writes in one passage. To her, eyeliner was a way to celebrate her identity and honor those who came before.
Then she detaches from her personal narrative and goes deeper into cultural history.
To minorities and communities of color, eyeliner transcends aesthetics, she writes. She emphasizes the rich historical and cultural significance of eyeliner through a journalistic eye, describing it as a tool infused with centuries of layered histories, including those of empires, royalty, nomads, and anyone in between.
You’ll see it sported by women on the New York City subway, models on the Paris runway, as well as Bedouin men in the remote deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Members of the Taliban similarly smear a form of eyeliner onto their lids to repel the sun, as do those from indigenous tribes along mountain ranges.
“Eyeliner: A Cultural History” explores how, in ancient and modern times, the act of lining the eyes was imbued with various meanings ranging from the spiritual to the seductive.
The Prophet Muhammad is said to have used eyeliner, specifically kohl, which was believed to possess medicinal qualities. The Old Testament also describes eye paint in association with characters such as Jezebel, implying that eyeliner could have served as a means to challenge the social norms of the time.
Eyeliner can change the shape of your eye, making it appear larger or smaller, more fierce or subdued, depending on the angle, tint and intent.
Like the mighty pen, it can be a sword, as Hankir quotes in a popular Taylor Swift lyric: “Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man.”
Overall, the history of eyeliner is rich and varied, as Hankir writes, with each culture and era assigning its own meanings and purposes to this seemingly simple cosmetic tool.
Hankir edited the 2019 anthology “Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World” in which Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, wrote the foreword.
