Photo below: (from top to bottom) (1) Elaine Paige posing for the sculptor (2) The Elaine Paige mannequin by Adel Rootstein.
Photos courtesy of Adel Rootstein Ltd.

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At the appointed time I took a taxi to the Rootstein showroom at Shawfield House on Shawfield St. I was allowed time to wander through the showroom. The artistry of the figures was superb, their costumes and their presentation.

Today you can view some of their mannequins for sale at www.Rootstein.uk . I was offered coffee. They pulled out an unwieldy tape recorder to document our meeting.

Adel was an insightful delight. She helped set up a meeting for me with the curator at the Museum of Costume, Bath. The following day I went to Bath and for the first time learned about the sexuality of male mannequins.

The very proper curator pointed out how the 1930s male mannequins were “dressed to the left.” I had no clue what she was talking about, but later learned from a men’s tailor the technical meaning of her discussion.

As Adel and I became more involved in our conversation about the history of mannequins she asked one of her assistants to make a call to a local bookstore. She had two books she said I must have.

One that I remember offhand is “The Women We Wanted to Look Like” by Bridgid Keenan. The books arrived by messenger. Adel wrote a beautiful inscription in the Keenan book.

I brought out the two Pierre Imans mannequin photos for show and tell. I related to Adel how I had met the grandson of Pierre Imans’ sculptor, and how he had offered the collection to me for $1,000. I told her I would be hard-pressed to make the purchase at this time, but they represented a valuable asset to my quest in researching the history of mannequins.

Without skipping a beat Adel said I must have the collection, she would wire Jean Pol Robin the money immediately. I was overwhelmed.

For icing on the cake, Adel made reservations for me to attend Andrew Lloyd Weber’s newly opened musical, “Cats.”

Her company actually sculpted a petite mannequin of the lead actress of Cats, Elaine Page. That evening I was picked up by a private cab, and accompanied by someone chosen by Adel. After the show we were treated to a late night supper.

The meeting with Adel is something special I will always cherish. I had the status of “starving student” so had no way to pay her back for the Pierre Imans photos.

My mannequin research was truly a non-profit endeavor, so I made the sacrifice and sold my special Mathuschek piano to raise the funds. My parents have since given my childhood Baldwin grand piano, so “Don’t cry for me Argentina...”

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