The True Gender
Gender's Cat |
The Very Convincing Rootstein |
Rootstein's Young and Restless |
I continued to the back of the store and looked around a little more, but I don't remember very much. The mannequins were all in formal wear, and the lights were bright (at least I was right about something). I asked about the Rootsteins, and I was offered a brochure on the Temptation line. Then I asked about the controversial Young and Restless, and I was offered another brochure and shown the very narrow-chested young men. Because of the natural sunlight from the store window, these mannequins had the usual pallor of mannequins and reminded me of vampires. Lighting was obviously key to Rootstein's realism. I commented on the chest size.
"This is just the style right now. We'll see a more muscular look again," said my guide and salesman reassuringly.
Although I'm usually a chatty person, I was having some problems formulating questions. I eventually asked them if they carried any plus-sized mannequins. I was told that the company did indeed do a lot of business with many plus-size suppliers, and again I was handed another brochure from a German company. I quickly flipped to the spec for "Venus," a plus-sized mannequin, looking more like an average Canadian woman, but still a little narrow in the waist. We had a short conversation about rib cages. Manufacturers were apparently asked to add rib cages because clothes fell more the way they were intended to, but to consumers, a mannequin's protruding rib cage signified anorexia.
I had been completely wrong about the type of people I was going to find at this shop. Everyone had been more than accommodating and very generous with information. Then, as I was about to leave, a young man came forward and gave me a folder for all my newly acquired information along with a USB key with all the specs of the mannequins they carried. As my husband reminded me later when I got home, these specs were expensive items, and he experienced some pure geek euphoria when he examined the USB key.
"This is a 4-gig key...very cool," I recall him saying.
And the key's contents were even cooler. I discovered that Rootstein carries a Barbie mannequin line. The various manifestations of Barbie are all six feet tall with a 23-inch waist...
As I crossed St-Laurent Boulevard, I realized that my excursion had been successful. I had photos and more than enough information to write something on size politics. At the same time, I felt sick to my stomach and strangely empty. I couldn't get over the fact that so much effort had been put into perfecting human replicas. Why couldn't that type of energy be put into feeding the world's hungry?
I guess I'd forgotten about the requisite post-mannequin heebie jeebies.
More posts related to the hood:
Almost a Visit to Gender
St-Viateur: the Polish Bazaar
The Mile End Buzz Around Beekeeping
For the Love of Vinyl
Airing Our Dirty Laundry
Filming on St-Viateur
A Sense of Humour With the Wilensky's Special
S.W. Welch: the Nicolski Coincidence
The Lure of Fishing on Bernard
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