Model brings back the unibrow in viral social media posts

The 20-year-old has polarised opinions with the idiosyncratic look inspired by Frida Kahlo

A model has become an Instagram sensation after posting pictures of her thick, dark unibrow (Instagram)

Cara Delevingne might have caused a storm when her bushy brows hit the fashion scene back in 2011 - but she had nothing on artist Frida Kahlo, whose untamed monobrow defied beauty ideals more than a century ago.

Now, a 20-year-old model is making a similarly empowering statement with her thick dark unibrow.

Sophia Hadjipanteli, a model and student at The University of Maryland, became an Instagram sensation after the natural blonde accidentally tinted her eyebrows black.

The Greek model, who has more than 50,000 followers, has become an advocate for unconventional beauty and hopes to inspire other women to embrace their natural features by sporting the idiosyncratic look.

However, she revealed that her eyebrows had polarised opinion and made her the subject of social media vitriol, with some followers even accusing her of having poor hygiene.

"I hope this trend does not take root and we return to normal eyebrows. The girl is beautiful, but eyebrows spoil everything," one user commented on a post of Hadjipanteli's.

"I don't understand why you try to grow out a unibrow and stuff. Like you're actually really pretty, but what's wrong with taking care of yourself? Like there's nothing wrong with being hygienic and just taking care of yourself," wrote another.

But the beauty renegade was not disheartened: "I'm not really doing this to show people that they have to like [my unibrow]," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I am more so doing it to show people that they can get on with their lives by having a preference."

"I personally think my face looks better this way. Others disagree, and that's totally cool," she added.

"I have a unibrow because it is a preference. AT THE END OF THE DAY just do you cuz imma be doing me whether you like it or not," the student wrote in an Instagram caption.

Hadjipanteli explained that she would consider grooming her eyebrows again in the future, but only when "people start to accept others for this specific feature on their face."