May 15, 1999 / FW/ --- Before the 1970s, mannequins did not have nipples.

The socio-economic events of the 1960s - Vietnam War, Hair (Broadway Play), women's lib and the famous battlecry of the college students that time, "Don't trust anyone over thirty" changed the world.

When JFK was shot, we lost Camelot, and with it we lost our innocence. Mannequins mirror the times, hence it was not a surprise when it started to have nipples.

Gwen Beattie, writing for the Canadian Panorama October 14, 1972 issue said:

In case you haven't already noticed, the sexual revolution has surfaced in the shop windows on main street.

The need for merchants to display the new see-through, no-bras fashions made it essential that the mannequins of the world be liberated. So dress dummies now have nipples.

This startling change in lifestyle in the display world occurred very gradually over the past year in Canada.

In Toronto last February a middleaged subway commuter whose route normally takes him up the escalator and through a corner of Simpson's main store found his eye caught by a brace of shapely new sweater-clad fashion mannequins who were almost as alluring as the smart young clerks behind the counter.

It was two or three daily encounters later before he realized why they looked so natural. They were more naturally endowed."

This was what Gwen Beattie wrote in 1972. It must be shocking for that time to see mannequins with nipples. A lot of people still think of them as department store dummies, but when the dummy show more realism than what we are used to, it became a head turner.

Here's a real life mannequin story from Gwen:

In the past the sight of a store window full of bald-breasted clothing dummies, glimpsed in the midst of a costume change, used to be somewhat less appealing than a butcher's window full of plucked chickens.

But this summer police marched into a sportswear shop in Galt, Ont., threatening arrest unless six newly purchased mannequins were instantly covered.

A display man had arranged the lively newstyle dummies in a background of autumn leaves, then gone to lunch.

The sight of their twelve nipples, lightly brushed with color, so shocked a passer-by that a complaint to the police followed.

Gwen interviewed the shop owner and this was what Gwen was told: It's the Nipple Look," sighed the shop owner, who refused flatly to talk if identified.

"But what can I do? Without the right equipment, you can't sell fashion. Realistic breasts are necessary for the new see-through, no-bra halters and knits. The mannequins' gymnastic poses are meant to sell pants. Pants are made for moving."

She found that all the new mannequins in their show room have nipples painted with the same realistic detail given to eyes and mouth.

Gwen asked Frank DeTurse of DeTurse Studio aboutthe Nipple Look?

"We stick close to anatomy," says Frank. "No-bra fashions need a natural breast movement. Personally I don't think our mannequins' breasts are as sexy as their knees. Look at this extended knee ..."

Final words from Gwen about the nippled mannequins:

DeTurse's femmes Naturelles are all perfect size eights. Their sculpted feet, complete with toes, fit into a size-six shoe.

Bodies are separated down low, at the hip instead of the waist to show revealing bikinis to advantage. Today's mannequins are all made with a bikini cut and natural breasts, even the very elegant, ladylike ones imported from New York."

(Editors Note: In 1972, DeTurse's mannequins were sold at $250 each, a far cry from today's $700-$1000.)

The shock and the reaction of the people to realistic mannequins was very surprising. This was 1972 - after Woodstock, after man has walked on the moon and most of all, after women's liberation movement has begun.

But this was also a turning point in mannequin history. After 1972, there was more realism in mannequins, be it "realistic" or sculpted head mannequins.