Recently, we came across an interesting report at breitbart.com regarding mannequins. Basically, they interviewed one of the worlds leading producers of mannequins and found that race still plays a prominent role in sales. Worldwide Black mannequins just don’t sell. Other ethnically diverse mannequins don’t fare well either. The one exception seems to be, in the United States, where Black and Asian models are doing decent business. We can’t say, we are exactly surprised by this. At the same time, it’s like, come on people it’s 2009 already!
Oddly, it is not only the White customers keeping diverse mannequins down, but minority groups as well. It seems Asian businesses and countries prefer to purchase the White, European looking, mannequins too. Racism aside, the most disturbing bit of information was this quote, “We only sell headless, limbless, bodies to Saudi customers.” We suppose it’s the all too common images of Middle Eastern women being oppressed and victimized that makes this quote so disconcerting. On the other hand, perhaps they, like many high-end fashion brands, prefer the streamlined look of headless mannequins, so the focus stays on the garment not the mannequin.
For those of us who work in the design and manufacturing side of fashion, mannequins are rarely thought about. They belong to retailers, which are on the complete opposite end of the fashion spectrum from us. What we do have are tailor dummies or body forms, usually headless, and without hands and feet. Unlike mannequins, they are made of fabric and stuffed so that garments can be pinned and fit to them. Our body form’s race is never considered, they are all a dull cream color, which is the natural shade of their cheap unbleached cotton.
When discussing the retail mannequin’s size, a mannequin producer stated, “As for body shapes, every time we try different sizes, it fails. It’s not relevant.” We find this quote quite telling, because for us, size and shape are everything. Often retailers will supply designers and manufactures with body forms or fit models that represent the shape of their customer. Based on extensive market research they will mimic the customer’s actual size from rounder shoulders, or shorter height, or even love handles if applicable. Certain mass-marketers that have a higher population of Black and Hispanic female customers, use a dummy that is slightly shorter, heavier and with a more curvaceous behind. However, in their store the shopper sees tall, slim, white mannequins with flat torsos, large busts, and barely-there hips and bottoms. Basically, the image they present to the public is of a life size Barbie doll. So what kind of message are retailers sending, when they spend thousands of dollars on mannequins, that they know does’t represent their customers either in shape, size, or color?
