Topshop, a woman's clothing store, is being scrutinized online for the size of their mannequins after a picture taken in a UK store went viral.
Customer Becky Leigh Hopper tweeted a picture of a friend who is a size 8/10 in the U.K. (4/6 in U.S.) standing next to a mannequin in a Topshop store with legs half her size.
The exaggerated long, skinny legs of the mannequin left a lot of angry customers who felt the mannequin was promoting a poor body image.
Days after the initial tweet was posted, Topshop released a statement:
The mannequin in question has been used in stores the past four years and is based on a standard UK size 10. The overall height, at 187cm, is taller than the average girl and the form is a stylised one to have more impact in store and create a visual focus. Mannequins are made from solid fibreglass, so in order for clothing to fit, the form of the mannequins needs to be of certain dimensions to allow clothing to be put on and removed; this is therefore not meant to be a representation of the average female body.
The statement from the clothing store was still controversial, as many women feel that a mannequin is representative of a woman's body.
"While we completely understand and partly agree with this, the suggestion that a mannequin in the shape of a female body, modelling clothes meant for a female body is not at all representative of a female body is absurd," Hopper writes in a blog post. "Yes, Topshop, your mannequins may not be SUPPOSED to directly represent a woman or girl but they bloody well do."
This controversy comes just months after stores Glassons and La Perla came under scrutiny for mannequins with protruding ribs.
