Mannequin legs at Topshop cause controversy. Two friends shopping at a Topshop store, shared a photo that showed a mannequin with very skinny legs. The picture has gone viral and many are slamming the company for using anorexic looking dummies.
Photo of thin mannequin legs at Topshop store, creates PR nightmare for the brand. Last week, two friends, Becky Hopper, 23, and Georgia Bibby, were shopping in a Topshop store located in Kingston upon Hull, England, when they noticed the matter.
Miss Bibby who is a size size 8/10 in the U.K. or 4/6 in U.S. stood next to a mannequin and took a picture. The pair were stunned to see how skinny the mannequin’s legs were compared to Bibby’s.
The students decided to share the photo on Twitter to blast the company for body shamming “real women, with real curves.” The post rapidly went viral and over 7000 people have re-tweeted the picture of the Topshop mannequin with the “super-skinny” legs.
Most of them supported Bibby and Hopper for calling out the brand for using dummies with unrealistic and unattainable features. Via her blog, Hopper explained that she shared the picture hoping that the owners of Topshop will understand that they must have “diversity” at their stores. She explained:
“‘We’re overwhelmed by the response. We aren’t out to shame skinny girls – far from it. We’re hoping to encourage Topshop to show a more diverse range of mannequins. All sizes should be celebrated.”
Miss Hopper went on to add that it’s wrong to give young girls the impression that super thin is the only option, she said:
“Many girls can be healthy while looking similar to this mannequin. However, most cannot. Teenage girls are Topshop’s target audience. We owe it to young girls to be more responsible with how we portray body image.”
Topshop tried to squash the skinny mannequin legs controversy in a statement that explained that it is not their fault if the dummies are made of fiberglass and therefore appear more lean than a human being:
“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 stylized one to have more impact in store and create a visual focus. Mannequins are made from solid fiberglass, 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.”
Topshop has recently announced a new partnership with Beyonce that will start in the Spring of 2015.
Hopefully, Beyonce who is famous for her bootilcious curves will convince Topshop to stop using mannequins with crazy thin legs.
I find this all completely abhorrent I lost my sister on the 26th of June this year to complications brought on by anorexia she was a mother , sister , daughter , wife who was funny, loved by everyone who met her even people from her village knew her to say hello to yet none of that mattered to her in comparison to how she saw herself . She was a size 16 when a chance comment by an ex work colleague set her into the downward spiral don’t get me wrong she’d suffered this in her teens so to see her a healthy size 16 ( it is possible to be fit and healthy at that size )was a great relief but she soon started to get secretive with food , comment on how good skinny celebs looked etc despite trying to help her break the chain that had been started she lost 6 stone in 4 months everytime we’d see her she would look like she’d lost more but she believed she look great often saying she was the same size as this celeb or another . She soon obviously needed new clothes but wouldn’t buy anything unless she would look like the mannequin wearing it so you can see why these super skinny ones annoy me so much. By the time she believed what we were saying and that she needed help it was too late for her . Everyone knows obesity can also kill but please don’t slam people who are of a standard healthy weight or show that your not ” ideal ” unless your stick thin either I’d hate to think of this repeating itself again even though I know it does to many more poor families
It’s just a clothes hanger, get real.
Are you kidding me!?! What kind of misguided, shallow, opinion-dependent fool spends time thinking – and bitching – about something like this?
If you can be “shamed” by the legs on a store dummy, you should already be ashamed of your own character.
I have a genuine, heartfelt suggestion for all of those who actually think this is a serious problem. Seek professional help in dealing with your image problems, and learn that your opinion, and perhaps those of the people closest and most trusted, are the only ones that should ever have any influence on your behaviors.
Also, find a cause to advance that has some genuine value to it. For the love of God, people! We have hunger, illiteracy, family violence, and a government in the U.S. that currently cannot even spell “Constitution”, and advocates and promotes racial division for the purpose of vote accumulation. There is also a small issue regarding care for our veterans and we, as a country, owe a lot of other countries a lot of money. I’m just flinging a few out there…
Besides, no matter what size legs you put on a dummy, some other dummy will find those legs offensive.