Editor's note: this article was written around 2010 and lightly updated in 2024. Due to ongoing advances in the display industry, it would be advisable to conduct current research to be fully appraised of the current market before following recommendations here which may be dated.
Photographing clothing is usually a fun job for entrepreneurs in the fashion industry. Visual merchandising brings together all of a designer's creativity into an aspirational image for the consumer, and the success of that presentation can add tremendously to clothing sales. Shown first are the Polyform manufacturer's photos of the Poly Star Lady flexible foam mannequin I selected for use in photography for Fashion Belle sewing pattern designs. I originally selected this mannequin because it would be resilient to damage, unlike fragile fiberglass, and its flexibility would allow for many combinations of poses and props.
After working with the Polyform mannequin, I feel that it would have been better to have either restricted my photography plans to live models or to the dress forms upon which the apparel patterns were draped in order to accurately reflect the designs for the home sewing market. The Polyform has turned more orange over the years than these photos show due to exposure of the foam to air, and this is emphasized by color balances in an average point-and-shoot camera. The Polyform foam face is difficult to paint and resists attachment of eyelashes or other items to make it more realistic, and the body shape is not true to life. One factor in favor of a foam mannequin such as this is for someone planning to do outdoor photography for easy backdrops. Possible wind in outdoor locations could topple a fiberglass mannequin and break it whereas a foam or other strong synthetic mannequin would be undamaged. Outlined in this article are topics of interest that emerged during my mannequin research.
Poly Star: Flexible Foam Mannequins
Fiberglass is the most common material for producing realistic mannequins, but it breaks easily. Some companies have gone to polyurethane resins to increase durability, but these mannequins are obviously plastic and not as realistic as fiberglass. Poly Form uses durable and flexible foam for its Poly Star Lady from Euro Display in Germany, sister company and sales outlet for the Poly Form manufacturer. The face and body shapes are not precisely realistic, but the mannequin can be posed in many ways and will not crack like fiberglass if the wind accidentally pushes it over at outdoor photography locations. I chose the flocked skin color with a realistic face and asked the factory to ship it with no face paint so that I could customize the eyes and makeup myself. The factory recommends using airbrush paint lightly applied so that it does not soak the foam, although I plan add most of the makeup in Photoshop to mesh with various outfits. Additional dealers are based in several European countries, but none are in the USA where I live, requiring extra work to send a foreign wire transfer and process customs costs. A German representative who speaks English handled my order entirely by email, and my shipment arrived in only four days.
When to Choose Mannequins Over Live Models
Most fashion design houses contract live models for fashion photography. Naturally, this produces the most realistic effect and allows for an endless array of poses. Free or low-cost models may be found through online sources, but the quality of the modeling may be substandard compared to what is available through model booking agencies at a premium cost. Over time, the cost of a live model may surpass that of a high-end mannequin, making a mannequin purchase something that small businesses with seasonally rotating styles may want to consider if cost savings are necessary. In the United States, an inexpensive mannequin may be purchased for a few hundred dollars while a high-end mannequin costs in the thousand or more range. That is quite a gap, but the quality difference is often evident, especially when leaning toward a more realistic looking mannequin.
As a privacy caution to home-based entrepreneurs, using yourself, family or friends as models is risking global misuse of images in ways that may never be fully erased. Especially for businesses that promote modest clothing, we are targets for people who oppose our standards. A family-owned modest swimwear companies shared with me that after receiving national television publicity for their business concept, someone took the photos of family and friends modeling the swimwear online, altered the images in Photoshop and then posted them elsewhere as a purposeful insult. The grandmother who now runs the business told me that her action to prevent a repeat of this offense was to hire someone to add digital watermarks and make the images secure against downloading. In these days of simple screenshot technology, however, those cautions are insufficient. Any image online can be easily reproduced and altered. It is because of this family's story as well as the cost of hiring a professional model that I have chosen to use a mannequin for photography for Fashion Belle designs.
Realistic vs. Abstract Mannequins
This realistic mold with a gloss finish, a now-discontinued model from IDW, combines the worlds of realism and abstraction. A mannequin will rarely appear human in a photo, nor need we try present it as such. The customer can always use imagination to accommodate semi-realism. Even so, after days spent evaluating the range of options from abstract to realistic, I determined that the more realistic a mannequin looked, the better I liked it. Even fully realistic shapes painted non-skin tones did not appeal to me as much as true-to-skin tones, the exceptions being an occasional glossy finish in a skin tone, as pictured above. Glossy finishes are more suited to retail store display than photography, since light reflections in photos may look strange.
Finding much of a selection of realistic mannequins as time passes is becoming harder as the industry veers ever more toward abstract displays. Trends in mannequins have shifted back and forth from realistic to abstract over the decades, but the overall trend has been from realistic mannequins in the mid-1990s to more abstract versions in the current time. Even if it may be true that women more easily imagine themselves wearing an outfit when a realistic mannequin is modeling it, abstract mannequins dominate the modern market. Some of the current focus on abstract mannequins relates to ease of maintenance in retail stores, while other reasons probably touch on complaints of diversity when utilizing anything other than abstraction to represent the human form for the mass market. Abstract mannequins are also known as egghead, headless, stylized or articulated. Attractive abstracts are available, but before making a final decision, compare realistic shapes and colors to see if they might not offer a more believable canvas for clothing that still fits within the framework of your target market.
One trend is the use of "invisible mannequins" that are cut away in areas to make clothes look like they are floating. The illusion of a ghost mannequin can be created with a standard dress form by layering parts of images together in Photoshop. My personal preference as a shopper is to see the sleeve and hem lengths of clothing relative to the body, which is difficult if no figure is underneath. This is especially important for sewing patterns, which is the Fashion Belle product, so ghost photography was not a good option for me. The digital manipulations required for ghost mannequin photography take time and do not always produce perfect images, which is one reason to be cautious about committing to this method long-term.
Vintage New John Nissen: Ultra Realistic Mannequins
By way of update in 2024, Belgian manufacturer New John Nissen no longer seems to be producing realistic mannequins nor marketing directly to the public. Dealers such as DK Display Corp still carry this line, but the forms are abstract. Pictured are now-discontinued mannequins from the K Collection. The Klio face at far right has the sweetest expression of any mannequin I have found from any manufacturer, and I have reviewed thousands of mannequins. The fact that Klio lacks a smile and yet ranks at the top of competition for pleasant expressions emphasizes the point that almost no manufacturer today makes a smiling mannequin. Those that do usually exaggerate the smile, pushing it into the realm of creepy rather than pleasant. Vintage Hindsgaul and Decter mannequins dating from the 1970s and earlier, rarely sold used through eBay and other classified sites, sometimes smile pleasantly. They are near obsolescence now due to disintegration of the fiberglass after decades. Around 2014, New John Nissen issued a new line of multi-ethnic models available in a wide range of skin tones which were the most realistic ethnic models available from any mannequin manufacturer at that time, but by 2024, the company had phased out that line in favor of abstract forms and colors.
I have seen only one fiberglass New John Nissen mannequin in person around 2010, and it showed slight marks on the paint and damage around a wrist with fiberglass chipping to reveal the metal connection plate underneath. While many manufacturers have moved to unbreakable polyurethane casting material and abstract forms to replace fiberglass since that time, many of the realistic mannequin manufacturers were slow to make that move. The exceptional craftsmanship of vintage, fiberglass New John Nissen designs did not exempt them from the same risk of breaking and surface scratching that is common among fiberglass mannequins. New John Nissen realistic mannequins are spare on the used market these days but may still be found used in various places online and in resale stores.
Plus-Size Mannequins
The mannequin industry has historically drawn criticism for catering to a slender, Caucasian appearance which lacks diversity in appealing to the total consumer audience. This is changing, however, and more companies are now offering realistic sizes for display mannequins and neutral colors to appeal to a range of ethnic groups. Regardless of the original shape, mannequins can usually be padded to the measurements needed. If a mannequin is meant for photography, be aware that as nice as it would be to aim for a multi-ethnic look in photography, darker skin tones can turn orange, purple or green with some cameras, requiring time-consuming post-photography editing alterations, and a neutral guarantees that fix will be unnecessary. Some of the best selection advice I read is that a mannequin should be chosen to make the clothes look good, not the other way around.
Other Leading Mannequin Manufacturers
Cheap mannequins flood the market and may be purchased pre-owned for the best savings. Beautiful high-end mannequins are more difficult to find used, though if you keep in touch with companies that recycle mannequins from chain stores, like Mannequin Madness in California, USA, you may discover a treasure.
A couple of hundred mannequin manufacturers exist worldwide, producing all levels of quality. If you find an acceptable mannequin from a manufacturer or dealer located in the country where you live, you will gain some advantages going with that choice, since handling an import yourself adds work and expense. In closing, here are several more of the leading mannequin manufacturers that were not mentioned earlier in this article:
- Proportion London offers mannequin poses that are full of dynamic energy, an important consideration when trying to avoid the stiff look that a mannequin can so easily convey.
- Rootstein, now part of the Bonaveri family, is one of the oldest mannequin companies in the world and produces high-end designs.
- Bonami, all abstract but exquisitely done
- Atrezzo in Barcelona, Spain
- Mondo, based in New York
- Fusion Specialties with offices in Colorado, USA; Barcelona, Spain; and Shanghai China offers a catalog of ready-to-buy abstracts in durable polyurethane, but most work is done on a custom basis for large companies
- CNL and Patina-V in California, USA, offering abstract and realistic mannequins
- MD Studio in Italy with unique fabrications
- Hans Boodt offers styles with a well-done cross between abstract and realistic
- La Rosa> in Italy, standard abstract
- Silvestri in California, USA, stylized abstract
- Darrol in Denmark which also hosts the legacy Hindsgaul brand
- Alternatives Plus Manufacturing in the USA, polyurethane budget mannequins
- Bonaveri all abstract with expensive materials like leather and wood
- Euro Females from Allen Display, mannequins that fall between cheap and high-end in cost and quality
- Manex USA, wide selection of basic mannequins
- Siegel and Stockman in New York, variety of unique forms including articulating
- Greneker is one of the last hold-outs in producing realistic mannequins