Shop Window Display Mannequins in the Context of Modern Design Development and Visual Communication

Abstract

Showcasing is a unique marketing tool that implements the requirements for advertising products from different manufacturers for different social groups in a highly competitive environment. Shop window design is part of visual merchandising and it actively uses mannequins as exposition equipment. They help to create an attractive image of the store, which is memorable, in particular, due to the design of the mannequins themselves. A wide range of shop window functions and mannequins are conditioned by the conceptual content and mutual subordination. Shop windows are creating and operating through advertising and selling goods, and mannequins convey the image, values, aesthetic preferences of both the manufacturers and a certain group of consumers. Shop windows have long ceased to be a common display of goods, and city streets are literally full of original installations in creative showcases. As competition between brands intensifies, consumers are saturated with both goods and their representations, which can be considered as a problem that needs coverage. The aspect of shop window interaction with the environment and spectators, their image-emotional influence, connection with mannequins' design still remain unexplored. The authors use contextual-historical and comparative analysis, as well as the method of typology to reveal the variations of mannequins during the twentieth century. A retrospective review of mannequin design development is preceded by a complex theoretical and methodological basis of the expositions as a phenomenon and an art and project-based creativity sphere.