Posted on 11/12/2004 9:52:39 AM PST by presidio9
.Lo and Beyonce can take another bow. The booty-shaking stars have shaped the newest generation of mannequins, with hundreds of well-rounded plastic backsides appearing in shop windows across New York.
Bootylicious figures clad in tight low-rise jeans have spilled from the city's street fashion stores into more established labels.
"It's absolutely the trend," said Dwight Critchfield, creative director for mannequin firm Goldsmith.
"These mannequins look great, and there is a real sex appeal about them."
The recent pop culture fixation on large bottoms has been around since at least 1992, when rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot scored a hit with "Baby Got Back."
But some credit the recent booty shakin' efforts of shapely stars Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce for the fresh emphasis on bigger and rounder posteriors, coupled with the fashion explosion of the Brazilian-style low-rise jeans.
"J.Lo was the first to stress that women shouldn't be afraid to show their curves, and the popularity of rap made that shape more acceptable," said Critchfield. "And it is about these low-riding jeans looking good on a sexy, tight fit."
The company launched a "Sex" mannequin with "a larger booty and body" tailored for fashion label Express and for stores carrying lower-end trend clothing, said Critchfield.
On the juniors' floor of Macy's in Manhattan, Guess jeans and streetwear label EckoRed display jeans on a fuller rear-end bottom-half mannequin, known as a pants form, opposite a large poster of J.Lo and her clothing label, while a DJ mixes hip hop and reggae to teen and 20-something shoppers.
EckoRed launched the new mannequin -- called the J.Lo butt form -- at the store almost two years ago and sales have since tripled.
"It is a serious sociological trend that is positive for retailers and customers in that the tyranny of the undernourished perfect model is over," said Rich Rollison of Lifestyle Forms and Display, which designed the pants form mannequin.
Other companies also are developing more realistic mannequins with larger posteriors in maternity and plus sizes.
U.S. label Lane Bryant, which caters to plus sizes 14 to 28, is launching a more voluptuous full-body mannequin across its 250 stores after a successful test run in New York.
"It originated from urban ethnic street wear, but it has transcended that," Rollison said. "Now you are going to see it projected in more urban markets and it will get bigger."
A group of buxom bottom mannequins are shown at the EckoRed jeans display at Macy's in New York, November 11, 2004. Buxom bottom mannequins clad in tight low-rise jeans have grown in popularity at stores in New York and other cities in the United States. FOR FEATURE STORY LIFE-BOOTY REUTERS/Jeff Christensen
When I was young and single and more "curvaceous" than I am now, I would go to clubs with my skinny, flat-chested friends and they'd get approached by the white guys, while I was approached by the black guys. I was the lucky one because we all know that white men can't dance. ;-)
I really don't think that having men admire more voluptuous figures is limited by race. Most of the men I know, regardless of race, prefer a woman who looks like she's not afraid to eat. My husband says he can't understand why any man would find a stick-thin woman so attractive.
I have had that same experience!
My favoirte line...
colloquuntur equidem cum ista eo tantum, quod scortum perfectum esse videtur.
(Verily, they converse with her for this reason only, namely, that she appears to be a complete whore.)
The answer is dumbfoundingly simple:
Most fashion designers are gay men. They prefer women who look like 8 year-old boys.
When did the anorexic look become so popular?
Twiggy and the really skinny woman from My Fair Lady/Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Uncle Fester in drag?
I saw something either about models or fashion years ago and this is what they said. In the 40's and 50's models had figures like average women. Fashion designers said that during fashion shows people were paying too much attention to the models and not the clothes. So, they put the clothes on models with no figures at all figuring people would just watch the clothes since the models didn't have attractive figures. I don't know how true it is.
Just keep'm out of the burbs.
VPL
I don't want no AIDS looking women but I would prefer their folds be in the sheets, not on the belly stomach.
Thanks!
g
Audrey Hepburn was too skinny, but she was also one of the prettiest women who ever lived.
Nothing wrong with that either.
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