Beautiful Doesn’t Mean Perfect

Nobody is perfect. Although the media keep proposing to the society tall, elegant, beautiful bodies with apparently no imperfection such as body hair or cellulite, we all know that, aside some exceptions, those models do not reflect the average person’s body. Neither do the smooth, perfect, plastic bodies staring out of the shops’s windows.
“But why can’t they?” It’s out of this question that the Pro Infirmis, a swiss organization for disabled people, decided to lauch its project “Who Is Perfect? Get Closer”.
The idea was to create a series of mannequins based on the bodies of real people with disabilities (such as spine malformations, scoliosis, brittle bone disease ect).
The whole process was documented in a four-minute video directed by Alan Gsponer, in which we can see how the bodies’s measurements were taken, how the mannequins were painstakingly crafted to mirror the real bodies and at last we’re able to witness the joy of the models after seeing their unique figures brought to life.
“It’s special to see yourself like this, when you usually can’t look at yourself in the mirror” said one of the models while looking at her manikin.
Those mannequins were then dressed carefully and placed in the stores windows on Bahnhofstrasse, downtown Zurich, during the International Day of People with Disabilities. The reaction of the people walking down the street was also documented in the video. “Seeing it for real was quite a shock” said one of the people who stopped in front of one of the shops.
And that’s the point. Nobody is perfect. And although many model agency nowadays are trying to use models of all shapes colors and size, this is not enough. The whole point of this campaign is then to raise awareness of those with disabilities, not only in the society but specifically in the image-obsessed realm of fashion.
Pro Infirmis is not the only one involved in this battle. Many groups and shops are trying to bring awareness regarding this topic, for example the Model of Diversity Group, who is trying to promote the use of people with infirmities and different body types on the major runways, or also brands and department stores like Nordstrom and the english Debenhams who are creating ads featuring models with disabilities.
Nobody said this would be easy. We still have a long way to go before fashion will start using different and more realistics body shapes to show off its art. But thanks to Pro Infirmis and all the others who are promoting those types of initiatives, we’re getting closer.