a history of the mannequin - pre 1900
detail from "The French Bust Company" brochure
The history of the mannequin is an intriguing and interesting one. Julius Gems began his business, Gems Wax Models in 1885 against a background of retail boom. Setting up business from premises in London’s Tottenham Court Road area, Gems was a master basket maker with the skill to literally “sculpt” wicker into sophisticated shapes. Diversifying into woven workroom bustforms for tailors and dressmakers and later into papier mache and wax, his wealthy private clients ordered their own personal bustforms for their dressmakers to create bespoke clothing on. Soon Gem found himself supplying the royal family and other wealthy gentry living in and around London at this time, along with exporting bust forms to the royal families of Europe and further afield to the United States of America.
Full figured life size mannequins did not properly come into existence until the onset of the industrial revolution. This set in motion a succession of events that revolutionised retail and many other businesses. The invention of plate glass, the sewing machine and the filament street lamp set the ground for lighter airier retail establishments.
By the early 1900s America had given birth to the department store, these vast retail emporiums spread across to the UK with the arrival of Selfridges in 1909. The social classes were completely altered, more money was being circulated and the "nouveau riche" could now afford what was previously available only to the royals and landed gentry. The modern wax mannequin was born around this time and used for display in these formative retail stores. Although costing a huge amount of money and being disadvantaged by weighing around 300lbs these clumsy, yet extremely fragile early display figures were popular with retailers and their customers alike. Their most alarming defect was the ability to melt in the extreme heat of the unventilated windows of the day.
Window trimmers, as they were then known, created posed tableaux with these mannequins that entranced potential customers, who were now able to “window gaze” at night due to the installation of street and window lighting. This pastime later became known as window-shopping.
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