It was also a time of major technological changes - cars, airplanes, modern art, architecture, jazz, flappers, risque bathing suits and tans.

Concurrently, there was a major transition in the type of material used to sculpt mannequins, a move from wax to plaster.

Plaster figures didn't melt in the show windows. They were much lighter in weight, thus easier to handle. Plaster had very definite advantages.

But at the same time, with plaster, it was more difficult to achieve the detailed features and anatomy that were possible with wax.

And because of such difficulties, a trend toward abstraction became apparent with the post-war figures.

Abstraction pointed to the new emerging society of this post war period. Photographer/artist Man Ray edited and abstracted the human figure in his work.

The film Metropolis features futured humanoids, while the film Potemkin dealt with the manipulation of human actions.

Life was being abstracted carefully, and mannequins followed suit with their version of abstracted articulation.

(Cora Scovil's classic bride of the late '30s exuded a cold strength, captured both in commanding body language and facial expression.)

The crash of the stockmarket in 1929 forced the necessity of invention. Cut-out wood forms from D.G. Williams and poster-art figures by Cora Scovil were reasonably priced pieces that quite effectively substituted for mannequins. (Cora Scovil's company, called Vajah Inc. is longer in existence.)

This trend of abstract mannequins continued on into the early '30s, though always with a counterbalance of realism.

In fact, the conception or perception of realism fluctuated in definition from decade to decade. But that's another story in itself.