The Development Of The Mannequin

If you look at mannequins from different time periods, you will see that each era has its own characteristics - from facial expression, to body language (pose) and of course, the measurements. Modern mannequins look like life-sized Barbie dolls - tall and slim, with great body tone, looks bored and usually a size 4. Compare them with mannequins fifty years ago, and you will find that mannequins manufactured after World War II were shorter, and had a happy facial expression. Early mannequins were also only manufactured in three basic poses - left foot forward, right foot forward, or both feet together.

The depression and the Second World War brought about shortages and shop windows became rather somber with the mannequins of the day looking slightly melancholy and concerned. However this all changed when the war was over and by the late 1940s mannequins looked happy and prosperous, some of them even wore a radiant smile. Male mannequins in particular looked relaxed and some even had holes drilled between their lips for inserting pipes! Mannequins reflected the "ideal beauty" of the time it was designed and manufactured.

In the 1950s new materials became available and by the late 1960s the true mass production of fiberglass and then plastic mannequins became a reality.

Advances in technology have continued so that mannequin artists can now manufacture any conceivable design and are bounded only by the limits of their creativity.