Fashion retailer Long Tall Sally has used the latest in 3D scanning technology to create the UK’s first mannequin based on an exact likeness of one of its customers, 6’0”, size 14 Harriet Winters.
Specialists in designing clothes for women over 5’8’’ with a focus on true tall fit, Long Tall Sally wanted to create a mannequin that reflected the true shape and facial likeness of one of its customers.
Harriet’s mannequin will sit in Long Tall Sally’s design studio and be used for regular fittings – providing the Long Tall Sally technical team with a unique opportunity to fit their garments to a real woman. The mannequin will also feature in the window of Long Tall Sally’s flagship store on Chiltern Street, London.
Fashion historian and lecturer at Central St. Martin’s, June Rowe, who specialises in the history of fashion mannequins, feels that this personalisation is a creative, consumer-led way forward for the industry. She says: ‘The mannequin has always adapted with fashion and new digital technologies have seen the industry embrace cutting-edge and dynamic forms – such as holograms and mannequins that move. The 3D scanning of a customer meets the new demand of consumers that are looking for a more ‘real’ reflection of themselves in their shopping experience, as well as a more inclusive and forward-thinking fashion industry.’
For further information on the making of the mannequin, the history of the changing shapes and construction of mannequins over the last 100 years, visit: https://www.longtallsally.com/made-tall
