Turning Fantasy Into a Living Legend
Photo below: The Erin O'Connor Mannequin
Photo courtesy of Adel Rootstein

In an interview with Larry King, Karl Lagerfeld said, "The concept of beauty changes with the times. What is beautiful today, might not be considered beautiful tomorrow. On the other hand, what was beautiful 20 years ago, is not the ideal beauty today."

Mannequins has always been considered as the reflection of the "ideal beauty" during the time that it was manufactured. And if there ever was a mannequin company who understood it best, it is Adel Rootstein.

Adel Rootstein & Co. started during the early 1960s, when Britain was beginning to influence the world of fashion. Mary Quant and Jean Muir were the symbols of the new movement. The personality cult was in full swing.

But there was a major drawback in the London fashion scene - mannequins. The ones displayed in store windows were stilted, stylized, rigid and lifeless. In short, they look like "dummies," and very far from the glamour and beauty of the fashion runways.

Extensive experience in window design had given Adel Rootstein an awareness of the void that existed between the catwalk and the store windows.

Adel wanted to fill that gap. With the Adel Rootstein Company, she was able to create a whole new generation of display mannequins, and finally bring the fashion catwalk to store windows.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, Twiggy, Sandie Shaw, Joanna Lumley, Janet Suzman, Joan Collins, Lord Patrick Lichfield, Marie Helvin, Dianne Brill, Yasmin Le Bon, Susanne Barscht, Ute Lemper, Karen Mulder and Jodie Kidd were as much as part as the international fashion scene and the store window displays, thanks to Adel Rootstein.

In short, Adel turned fantasy into a living legend.

A Rootstein mannequin starts life as a sculpture based on the chose model, a process taking several weeks to complete. The result is a figure which expresses the mood of fashion embodied in the qualities for which the model has been selected.

From this form, a plaster cast is made which is then used to produce the final mould. 80% of the perfect fiberglass mannequins to emerge from this mould are exported all over the world.

For the first decade of the 21st century, Adel Rootstein & Co., under the helm of Kevin Arpino, its Creative Director chose Erin Connor and Anne Vyalitsyna as "fashion's ideal beauty."

The "Erin & Anne Collection" embodies dramatic, casual sophistication and gamine elegance for the "Erin" mannequins, and the "Anne" mannequins embody youtful style and freshness.

Fashion which was once dictated by individuals, whether personalities or designers is now equally determined by economic and social climate, either as a statement of it or a fantasy flight from it.

Adel Rootstein mannequins continue to capture, reflect and transmit the evolving fashion shapes by epitomizing "the moment" as each mannequin is created.

Contact Info:
London Headquarter and Showroom
Shawfield House, Shawfield Street, London SW3 4BB
Tel 071-351 1247
Fax 071-376 5084
Telex 919271
Email: london@rootstein.com
The London Headquarters for all other international agents can be contacted at:
Tel (011 44 171) 351-1247

New York Headquarter and Showroom
205 West 19th Street, New York  10011 NY
Tel (212) 645 2020 Fax (212) 929 0342 Telex 423214
Email: ny@rootstein.com

San Francisco Sales Office and Showroom
965 Mission St. #250, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA
TEL 415-546-0862 , FAX 415-546-0865
Email: sf@rootstein.com

Kyoto (Japanese Headquarter)
675 Oike-sagaru Sakaimachi-dori Nakagyo-ku KYOTO
604-8106 JAPAN
TEL 075-241-7551 , FAX 075-241-7581
Email: kyoto@rootstein.com

Website: www.rootstein.com