Debenhams to trial size 16 mannequins

The news
Debenhams will trial size 16 mannequins in its shop windows to gain feedback from customers.

Like most UK retailers, the department store currently uses size 10 mannequins in all its window displays. However the majority of women in the UK are either a 14 or 16 and 42% of sales in the store come from clothes in these sizes.

Signage next to the mannequins, which will be wearing the recently launched Principles by Ben de Lisi range, will ask customers 'I'm a size 16, do you want to see more of me?'

Debenhams head of creative, Mark Stevens said: "We are proud to offer a broad and varied choice for women of all ages, shapes and sizes in store. So we thought we should reflect this in our window displays. If it's popular with customers we would love to roll it out."

The comment
While it will be heartening to see more realistically-sized mannequins on the high street, Principles is considered a 'plus-size clothing' brand and therefore such mannequins 'plus-size' mannequins. But if the average clothing size in the UK is 14/16, how is this 'plus' anything? What it means is plus the fashion industry norm, but such norms bear very little relation to the real world.

By trialing such a scheme on a 'plus-size' brand, Debenhams are instantly making their move a minority one, and one that other retailers will be able to ignore on the basis that they do not sell themselves as catering specifically for this market.

If a major fashion-led brand such as Topshop, for example, acknowledged the fact that only the minority of UK women are size 10 or below and used more representative size 12-14 mannequins, it may make a difference.

But for now those two repeatedly misused words, 'plus-size', will pigeon-hole yet another change in the right direction.

IMAGE by Flickr user Photo Monkey