Selecting and Preparing a Mannequin or Bust Form
T he selection of mannequins to display garments in an exhibition is influenced by many factors and you will have to consider each one in order to achieve the best result. Often the most difficult will be the aspirations of the exhibition designer. In order to create a spectacular show, some ideas will be very challenging for fragile historic garments but with tact, diplomacy and skill amazing results can be achieved. The most important first step is to select the correct size mannequins. Chapter 6 explains the things you will need to consider in order to obtain the best results. The methods discussed have been developed for working with bust forms but reference is made to mannequins where appropriate.
Guidelines
When choosing a mannequin or bust form the following guidelines will be helpful.
• Always purchase a smaller bust form or mannequin as it is much harder to cut away the form, than increase its size.
• Check all the features in the garment that will affect its fit before purchasing a bust form or mannequin.
• In most cases it is the garment waist that dictates the size of mannequin needed to display historic dress but never forget it is its relationship to the bust and the shoulders that will tell you exactly how it will fit on the mannequin.
• To cause the least stress to a garment, always leave enough space around the bust form or mannequin to enable fastenings to be easily closed. Stretching fragile historic textiles around a form in order to fasten large hooks can be very damaging.
• With a two-piece garment, check whether the bodice was worn inside or outside of the skirt to establish which waist measurement is smaller. This measurement is the one you will need when purchasing a display form.
Figure 6.1a–c Shows three different types of mannequins used to display dress, 1a, a bust form, 1b, a simple mannequin, 1c, a digitally printed custom design. 6.1a–b © Proportion London. 6.1c Reproduced by kind permission of Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum.
Bust form or mannequin
Bust forms for the tailoring and dressmaking trades have been made for many years from fibreglass as longevity was important for workroom equipment. However, with the increased interest in fashion design as a career, the need for less expensive forms for students encouraged the introduction of cheaper papier mâché forms. Also, the increased popularity of museum fashion exhibitions has incentivized manufacturers to develop a large range of shapes and encouraged the use of new materials, including acrylic and most recently digitally printed figures. For long-term museum display it is essential that any new forms purchased are allowed to rest for a period of six weeks before being
placed in a museum gallery. This will allow any chemicals used in their production, which may be detrimental to fibres or trimmings in garments, to off-gas.1 This is especially important for any garment with metal thread embroidery as any chemicals released may cause the metal threads to tarnish.
In an exhibition, display of dress has to be seen as part of the total vision for the project. With this in mind the question constantly needing to be answered is: ‘Can the garment be safely displayed in the proposed style?’ If there is doubt, then discussion with the curator and exhibition designer will be needed to find a compromise solution. The fragile garment may need to be replaced with something more robust or displayed on a different type of form. The long-term safety of the garment should always be the primary consideration.
Once the style of bust form or mannequin has been decided the next consideration is the size needed. The body proportions of historic dress vary greatly from contemporary garment display forms. Having measured the garments, a good starting point when choosing a mannequin or bust form is to select one at least one size smaller than the garment measurements. The bust measurement should be at least 5 centimetres (2 inches) and the waist measurement 2–3 centimetres (1 inch) smaller. However, in order to fit a very fragile, or heavily boned bodice, an even smaller torso may be needed to allow for soft padding to cushion the delicate areas. A heavily boned bodice with a small waist may need a torso with a bust measurement 10 centimetres (4 inches) smaller than the garment. The bust to waist differential on modern bust forms varies with the style of the torso but, in general, it is smaller than that found in historic garments. Wearing tightly laced corsets led to garments with very small waists in proportion to the size of the bust. Consequently, this means that in order to purchase a contemporary form with a waist size small enough to fit the waist of a tightly fitting, boned bodice from the nineteenth century, the bust measurement of the mannequin will, inevitably, be much too small for the garment. However, it is the size of the waist which is the defining measurement when choosing the size of mannequin. The bust size can be customized to fit with the addition of polyester wadding.
Another important measurement affecting the size of mannequin required is the length from the neck to the waist. This measurement, particularly on nineteenth-century dresses, can be considerably shorter than on twenty-first-century bust forms or mannequins. In practice this means that, although waist measurements in the mannequin catalogue may suggest that the garment will fit the mannequin, often it will not because the bodice is too short and the garment waist is actually fitting around the bottom of the midriff on the mannequin, not the waist (see figures 6.2 and 6.3). A safer option may be purchasing a ‘museum-style’ torso with a generic historic shape rather than a standard contemporary bust form. Mannequin manufacturer, Proportion London, has worked with textile conservators to produce a generic form with narrow shoulders and a very small ribcage and waist called ‘The Petite’ (see figure 6.4).2 This allows a dress with a short bodice and small waist to close at many levels around the form.