identity crisis

So I have been meaning to blog about this post since I visited Berlin in January, but every time I remember I seem to forget again, until today. The topic is to do with visual merchandising, in particular the mannequins. And seeing as I was reminded by something my friend showed me today, I felt it was still very topical and still worth blogging about. 

Whilst I was in Berlin I saw a recurring theme within visual merchandising with the use of alternative objects as heads for the mannequins. This not only featured in displays themselves but also in various magazines that I collected from the various trade shows I visited. Since then I have seen the trend appear in Victoria Beckham's latest collection at Harvey Nichols and even in the windows of Jack Wills at the little seaside resort Rock, in Cornwall. 

Here are a few photos to help explain what I am talking about: 

Here the model had flowers as an alternative to a head. This image was taken at one of the stands at the Bread and Butter trade show in Berlin.

Victoria Beckham launched her latest collection at Harvey Nichols on kitten headed mannequins.

This was the image on the website for the spring/summer collection at French Connection. As you can see they have balloons covering their faces. This advert is very fun and playful like the rest of the FC adverts this season.

This was an image of the Christmas window at Jigsaw last year. They were ahead of the game with this trend, however animal heads, in this setting, have been around for a while. To create a display that is innovative, you need to go beyond this and think of a complete alternative to a humans face. 

These images were taken from photoshoots from magazines I collected in Berlin. The first image was taken from JN'C magazine whilst the second and third from a photoshoot called 'Hairy Fashion' from a magazine titled Bitchslap.

Even Jack Wills have jumped on the trend where they have used rose bushes instead of the mannequins head.

These visual displays are all very postmoden. They also all pose the question of identity and do the clothes we wear really give us an identity any more; or do we actually just blend into the person next to us, wearing exactly the same thing. How do we create our own identity these days?

There's a question for you all the think about.

Enjoy xx