Mannequins in shop displays are becoming quite pretty!

As someone who enjoys looking at shop windows to see the latest products, I have certainly noticed that creative design and visual merchandising has become fiercely competitive in the last 2 years between fashion retailers. They are locked in a war, battling aggressively to attract shoppers into their stores. Of course they have to otherwise the negative impact it would have on sales would be catastrophic. Every time a retailer finds a way to make their window displays look more visually enticing, rival retailers feel forced to raise their game. Presentation is everything.

Until recent years, only the big boys – department stores like Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Liberty of London – used to pull out all the stops to make their displays look bold and creative but now High Street shops are joining in, using all kinds of props – from tables, fancy chairs, cupboards to real size cars and motorcycles. The very latest weapon of choice appears to be the use of realistic looking, very attractive mannequins. I first noticed Fenwicks on Bond Street using them, and now you have NEXT and NEW LOOK using them as well. See the photos below. Do you think they are quite pretty? Vote in the poll further down in this post and let me know what you think.

These are from the NEXT store:

And these mannequins are from NEW LOOK: