Monday, August 20, 2012
Manga-esque Mannekins
I think that one of the reasons why there are so many Western featured mannequins is partly due to Westernization, and this explains why the signs, saying "special price down clearance" are in English too.
But the Japanese have Mannequins also partly because the Japanese are sort of animistic, or ego invested in their bodies to the extent that if there were a Japanese looking mannequin it would be so creepy that they would feel oblidged to greet it, or give it a funeral (like dolls) before throwing them away. Other ways of having mannequins that are acceptably non-human is to have headless mannequins or, recently, the manga-esque mannequins like those above. They also have ones with, to Western eyes, have very creepy expressions but in all cases I think it is important that the mannequinns be human enough to model the clothes, but not so realistic as to make the shoppers feel that the mannequins were human. I think that one of the reasons why Western mannequins are now less popular is due to the fact that with increasing numbers of westerners living in Japan, such manequinns, and indeed foreigners themselves, have started to look human.
But the Japanese have Mannequins also partly because the Japanese are sort of animistic, or ego invested in their bodies to the extent that if there were a Japanese looking mannequin it would be so creepy that they would feel oblidged to greet it, or give it a funeral (like dolls) before throwing them away. Other ways of having mannequins that are acceptably non-human is to have headless mannequins or, recently, the manga-esque mannequins like those above. They also have ones with, to Western eyes, have very creepy expressions but in all cases I think it is important that the mannequinns be human enough to model the clothes, but not so realistic as to make the shoppers feel that the mannequins were human. I think that one of the reasons why Western mannequins are now less popular is due to the fact that with increasing numbers of westerners living in Japan, such manequinns, and indeed foreigners themselves, have started to look human.
Labels: japan, japanese culture, nihonbunka, 日本文化
This blog represents the opinions of the author, Timothy Takemoto, and not the opinions of his employer.