Home>News Center>Life
         
 

The big-bottomed boost profile in New York
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-15 11:10

J.Lo and Beyonce can take another bow. The booty-shaking stars have shaped the newest generation of mannequins, with hundreds of well-rounded plastic backsides appearing in shop windows across New York.


J.Lo and Beyonce can take another bow. The booty-shaking stars have shaped the newest generation of mannequins, with hundreds of well-rounded plastic backsides appearing in shop windows across New York. A group of well rounded mannequins are shown at the EckoRed jeans display at Macy's in New York, November 11, 2004. [Reuters]
Bootylicious figures clad in tight low-rise jeans have spilled from the city's street fashion stores into more established labels.

"It's absolutely the trend," said Dwight Critchfield, creative director for mannequin firm Goldsmith.

"These mannequins look great, and there is a real sex appeal about them."

The recent pop culture fixation on large bottoms has been around since at least 1992, when rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot scored a hit with "Baby Got Back."

But some credit the recent booty shakin' efforts of shapely stars Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce for the fresh emphasis on bigger and rounder posteriors, coupled with the fashion explosion of the Brazilian-style low-rise jeans.

"J.Lo was the first to stress that women shouldn't be afraid to show their curves, and the popularity of rap made that shape more acceptable," said Critchfield. "And it is about these low-riding jeans looking good on a sexy, tight fit."

The company launched a "Sex" mannequin with "a larger booty and body" tailored for fashion label Express and for stores carrying lower-end trend clothing, said Critchfield.

On the juniors' floor of Macy's in Manhattan, Guess jeans and streetwear label EckoRed display jeans on a fuller rear-end bottom-half mannequin, known as a pants form, opposite a large poster of J.Lo and her clothing label, while a DJ mixes hip hop and reggae to teen and 20-something shoppers.

EckoRed launched the new mannequin -- called the J.Lo butt form -- at the store almost two years ago and sales have since tripled.

"It is a serious sociological trend that is positive for retailers and customers in that the tyranny of the undernourished perfect model is over," said Rich Rollison of Lifestyle Forms and Display, which designed the pants form mannequin.

Other companies also are developing more realistic mannequins with larger posteriors in maternity and plus sizes.

U.S. label Lane Bryant, which caters to plus sizes 14 to 28, is launching a more voluptuous full-body mannequin across its 250 stores after a successful test run in New York.

"It originated from urban ethnic street wear, but it has transcended that," Rollison said. "Now you are going to see it projected in more urban markets and it will get bigger."



Popeye the sailor man turns 75
Angelina Jolie in German TV show
Hugh Grant signals end to acting career
  Today's Top News     Top Life News
 

Luxury foreign products make inroads

 

   
 

Taiwan's Chen urged to nod 1992 deal

 

   
 

Powell: China ties best in 30 years

 

   
 

Hu hails friendship with all Latin America

 

   
 

Calls made to change interest income tax

 

   
 

Body of western woman found in Fallujah

 

   
  Popeye the sailor man turns 75
   
  Japanese princess to marry Tokyo metro bureaucrat
   
  Japanese gets 12 years for killing Chinese
   
  Miss World pageant gets underway in China
   
  Wedding-to-cradle site to open in Shanghai
   
  TCM advancing a HIV scourge
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Feature  
  Xu Wei: Every minute is fresh  
Advertisement