Lingerie Store La Perla Takes Down Mannequin With Ribs Showing After Complaints

Mannequins With Ribs Showing - A Step Too Far?

You'd think the universal reaction to the bikini bridge selfie trend - photos of jutting hip bones - would be message enough to retail stores that women don't find such images healthy or appealing.

So quite why lingerie brand La Perla used these mannequins with ribs showing is a bit baffling. The good news is that following a tweet about them, the store took them down pretty quickly.

The team at La Perla responded within hours of the posted photo, mentioning that the mannequin in question will be removed, as well as others, as the brand is "redesigning all La Perla stores with a new concept image," Vogue UK reports.

Yet in the world of plus size and super skinny, opinions are divided.

Founder of plus size magazine SLiNK, Rivkie Baum says: "When these La Perla mannequins popped up on my Facebook feed yesterday I was utterly shocked that such a large corporation could have such poor judgement. While we need to champion all bodies big and small as beautiful and socially acceptable, to opt for a mannequin with a protruding rib cage is quite shocking and a poor body image message to both young girls and ironically their own, more grown up customer base.

"Brands like La Perla need to look at their socially responsibility, lingerie brands especially have the power to inspire and build the confidence of women by being thoughtful and responsible in the imagery and body standards they promote."

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However Alex B, a model and HuffPost UK blogger, doesn't agree. She says that the mannequins hint at body diversity, even if it's not what we expect.

"We must not get overexcited about this, mannequins are after all just dolls. It would be good to have a whole range of mannequins representing all body types. We must not forget that the very thin do exist! I think that if La Perla also had plumper mannequins then a very thin one would be fine, as they do sell lingerie in very small sizes as well as large sizes."

What are your thoughts?

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