--- title: Topshop Drops Skinny Mannequins After Complaint goes Viral description: U.K. retailer Topshop will stop using unrealistically thin mannequins in its stores after one shopper posted a complaint to Facebook canonical: https://time.com/3974322/topshop-mannequin-thin-body-image/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T07:49:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:14.531Z og:title: U.K. Fashion Retailer Drops Skinny Mannequins og:description: Topshop accused of showing a lack of concern for body-conscious youth. og:url: https://time.com/3974322/topshop-mannequin-thin-body-image/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.K. Fashion Retailer Drops Skinny Mannequins twitter:description: Topshop accused of showing a lack of concern for body-conscious youth. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # U.K. Fashion Retailer Topshop Drops 'Ridiculously Shaped' Mannequins After Complaints > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: A Female Artist's Foray into Male Modeling [Watch (HLS stream): A Female Artist's Foray into Male Modeling](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o84z5syI.m3u8) (3:01)  _Published 2012-11-19. Casey Legler is an artist, a former Olympic swimmer and now a male model. She describes her entry into the fashion world and why the industry is allowing for a unique moment to happen_ by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Jul 28, 2015 7:49 AM UTC by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Jul 28, 2015 7:49 AM UTC British high-street retailer Topshop has agreed to stop using [unrealistically thin](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/27/topshop-mannequin-customer-complaint-facebook) mannequins in its stores after a shopper’s complaint went viral. Laura Berry posted a photo to Topshop’s [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392076674326665&set=o.59672929326&type=1) page of a “ridiculously shaped” mannequin at a store in a shopping mall in Bristol, reports the _Guardian_, and said the company was showing a “lack of concern for a generation of extremely body conscious youth.” “We’ve all been impressionable teens at one point, I’m fairly certain if any of us were to witness this in our teenage years, it would have left us wondering if that was what was expected of our bodies,” wrote Berry, a customer-service assistant from Gloucestershire, England. Topshop says the mannequin is based on a standard U.K. size 10 (U.S. size 6), but Berry points out she’s not sure that it even looks like a U.K. size 6 (U.S. size 2). “Perhaps it’s about time you became responsible for the impression you have on women and young girls and helped them feel good about themselves rather than impose these ridiculous standards,” Berry said. Topshop responded to the post publicly saying the mannequin was “not meant to be a representation of the average female body,” but said it was “not placing any further orders on this style of mannequin.” \[[_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/27/topshop-mannequin-customer-complaint-facebook)\] ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] What I wish is that we all get to be exactly who we are. And sometimes that's complicated. My name's Casey Lagler and we are filming in my studio space in New York City. I'm an art maker. And I'm also a male model at Ford. [ MUSIC ] As far as I know there are no other women exclusively modeling as male models. That sounds, that's such a weird [ LAUGH ] cuz I'm a woman, you know? The reason that I ended up Doing this is because I'm in fact buddies with the photographer who had this story, who knows, in some ways, my body of work, but also just knows what I look like and said, you're kinda, you know, you're perfect for this, are you in? And I [ LAUGH ] wasn't doing anything on that particular Friday And so I said yes. We have very specific ways in which we identify ourselves as man, or woman. And, I think sometimes those can be, limiting. It would be A lovely play if we didn't necessarily judge or jump to conclusions because someone wants to wear a dress or because someone wants to wears pants. I come to this modeling with this body of work that is about the body. And that is about mythology some of it but, you know, but that ultimately is I use my work to tell a story. It should elicit some sort of emotion. Is it a stretch for me to get styled wearing men's clothes? I mean, anyone can look at me for two seconds and see that that part is actually not. So complicated, I think that part that can feel complicated sometimes is that I also look really fierce in a dress you know? And i've been taught by the best queens about how to rock the heels and I think That that's where it gets exciting, it's just that solidity is that I celebrate. The fact that I am an art maker is one of the things that make this accessible and so I think that's what people are responding to in seeing me on the men's board. It Speaks. To this notion of freedom, you know? There's something really bold about that. That really is saying look, there is also this other way, and it's really rad. 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