It's not only models, mannequins too following the 'thin' trend

Archana Sharma / TNN / Dec 2, 2007, 03:07 IST

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It's not ramp models alone who have to maintain wafer-thin bodies.

It's not only models, mannequins too following the 'thin' trend

MUMBAI: It's not ramp models alone who have to maintain wafer-thin bodies. Even the less animated ones, the mannequins in shop windows, are shrinking in size in tune with today's obsession for the 'ideal' body. Gone are the kohl-lined eyes, the heavy bust, rounded hips and elaborate bouffant of mannequins of yore — today, slender and impossibly elongated figures stare blankly out at you from shops.
"The torsos of the mannequins are very long. No real woman can have such a body but it has a great appeal. It's a dream look," says fashion designer A D Singh. "Clothes look fantastic on such a body."
With the boom in India's retail industry, the role of mannequins, which cost an average of Rs 6,500, has become important. "Mannequins help sell items beyond the customer's need. If the customer has come to buy just one garment, mannequins suggest combinations to go with the product, and that includes accessories," says Damodar Mall, chief executive officer of the Future Group, which owns the retail garment chain, Pantaloon. Mall admits that the models have become slimmer "but that is in keeping with the popular culture of thin being in."
Confirming that mannequins have indeed slimmed down about two inches to a 32-24-34 size, manufacturers say the trend started about three years ago. "The Plaster of Paris (POP) statue with a big hairstyle and dolled-up face went out of fashion long ago. But since then there have been a lot of changes in sizes and materials. The bust sizes and the hip sizes are now in line with the international markets," says Anand Doshi of FY Trading at Sun Mills Compound in Lower Parel.

The POP statues looked patchy and were unmanageable, say window dressers, but one might still find them at the old Banarasi silk shops. Most other stores have been taken over by the trendier mannequins, made of fibreglass and sometimes metal. While indigenously made mannequins are available, the trendier ones make their way from China and Italy.
Much depends on the locality where the mannequin is placed. On Mohammed Ali Road, for instance, embroidered burqas or salwar kameezes are pinned up on plastic dummies, while in Roopam showroom, a distinction is made — mannequins with a buxom Indian figure are used to display a saree while the skinnier ones sport western clothes, says store owner Viren Shah.

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