It turns out we have to thank Sweden for more than just the spork.
A viral picture is currently floating around the Internet showing off a Sweden clothing retailer’s newest addition to their store: two full figured mannequins wearing nothing but purple lingerie. The store, Åhléns, is getting a healthy round of applause by women, and men, all over the world for their decision to feature the size 12 mannequins.
Women’s Rights News shared it on their Facebook page earlier this week saying, “Store mannequins in Sweden. They look like real women. The US should invest in some of these.”
So far, the picture already has 54,000 likes and 16,500 shares on Facebook.
On average, female mannequins have abnormally long and ridiculously lean figures, some designed to be as much as six inches taller, and six sizes smaller, than an average woman, according to the Chicago Tribune. This is no doubt a landmark step in the right direction towards accepting more realistic body types, and while some retailers in the US have gotten heat for trying to do the same thing in the past, it seems like this is getting a universal seal of approval.
While it’s obvious that most mannequins are made so thin to show off the clothes they’re wearing, they also don’t give an accurate depiction of a typical woman. Who knows, maybe all the hype around this picture will lead to similar looking mannequins making their debut in more stores around the world.