WHY MANNEQUINS SHOULD NOT BE BIGGER.

The last couple of years we have seen countless high street retailers named and shamed for using mannequins which were deemed “too skinny.” But who gets to determine what’s too skinny and since when was fashion supposed to be a replica of the ordinary teenage girl? Saying someone is too skinny is the equivalent of calling someone too fat.

Topshop Manager, Robbie Eastment, explains “Mannequins are made out of fibreglass, some don’t even have heads - they’ve never been a representation of the average female.” Mannequins are purely for visual merchandising, and a slim mannequin makes work a lot easier for the VM’s, as garments can be slipped on and off much easier than a curvy mannequin. Of course, how a mannequin is styled and the clothes which hang are supposed to inspire customers, but the mannequin itself should be seen as a blank canvas.

We're sorry for any offence caused by our mannequins, we take customer feedback very seriously, please read more - http://t.co/GSqDFhRVLK
— Whistles (@thisiswhistles) February 25, 2015

Last month, Whistles went out of their way to apologise to followers, after a mannequin caused outrage for being too skinny. “We do take customer feedback very seriously and will be removing this style mannequin from shop windows” said Whistles to The Huffpost Lifestyle. The mannequin does have protruding chest bones, but what’s the difference between a solid piece of fibreglass looking underweight and overweight, neither are unhealthy because let’s face it – it’s a mannequin we’re talking about.

Whistles mannequin taken in Angel, London 

Ok, so a mannequin may be interpreted by some as a reflection of the “ideal body”, despite that not being its purpose. So if all mannequins with a thigh gap, protruding bones with the “perfect” size C cup were no longer allowed, would that really solve women’s body issues? Doing this is likely to make them worse. Women have completely different body shapes and it would be impossible to have mannequins which reflected each and every one of our shapes and sizes. “I’m naturally skinny and a size 6, even though I agree that some mannequins are very skinny, if all mannequins had to be a size 10 and over, this wouldn’t help either. Calling skinny mannequins ‘disgusting’ makes skinny girls feel even more self conscious” says Maya Preston from Wolfreton High School.

If we look at catwalk shows, we can see that they are over the top and an unrealistic reflection of what the majority of us would actually wear. They have to be entertaining, otherwise no one would be interested, like a musical, they need to be theatrical and that’s how fashion has always been. In tudor times being overweight was a sign of wealth because that’s what was fashionable. People should interpret fashion in their own way and not take fashion so literally. Have fun with fashion, it’s supposed to be enjoyable - you can be anyone you want to be. 

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