LONDON, May 17, 2005 / FW/ --- Walking down Bond Street last October, it was noticeable that realistic mannequins are again back in favor. And that is great news for visual merchandisers because one can do more with realistic mannequins than headless or sculpted heads.

One thing that was also very noticeable is the absence of plus-size mannequins. Though you can see more of them in the U.S., they were nowhere to be found in London’s Bond Street.

Maybe, it’s because Bond Street is for high fashion and there is no such thing as ‘plus size’ when it comes to high fashion wherein the biggest size is usually up to US size 14.

Another reason might be that unlike the U.S. wherein there is an obesity epidemic, such thing does not exist in Europe, wherein most people are considered slim and fit.

As mannequins continue to be a reflection of the ‘ideal beauty’ of the current time, so do these mannequins in the windows at Bond Street reflecting the European ‘ideal beauty.’

All the mannequins are ‘perma-tan,’ something that Europeans in general like. Europeans are sun worshippers, especially Londoners who have to live with the rain most part of the year.

And with winter coming, a lot of them go to warmer places for their holidays, to get a tan, to see the sun.

Hence, it’s not really surprising that in the middle of autumn, the mannequins are ‘tanned’ because most of the city’s denizens just came back from their summer vacations that were spent somewhere in the tropics.

Mannequin

Mannequin

Mannequin

Mannequin