Universal Display & Design is a showroom located at 138 West 25th Street in New York City.

Now I know that there is a flurry of debate surrounding skinny models & mannequins, but as anyone who does visual merchandising knows, those size 2’s weigh more like size 22’s.

Back in February the Spanish Ministry of Health agreed to homoginize sizing, both retail and runway, and are implementing larger mannequins for store windows. The new mannequins must correspond to the normal weight of the Spanish population, which is at least a U.S. size 6 to size 14. The average was concluded by polling the Spanish women.

Part of me loves this concept and part of me questions the economic result. It makes me think of why people buy the clothes they do in the first place. Excluding parts of the U.S. where sweats are considered ready to wear, most women choose their clothing based on how they look and feel in it. If I were to walk by Chanel and see a size 8 model in a dress, I’m not sure if it would have the same appeal aesthetically. This is most likely because I work in fashion and live in New York, surrounded by media at every angle, but I wonder if the clothes will really sell themselves on plumper mannequins? Secondly, if in Spain the mannequin sizes are increasing to a max size 14, I wonder what it will come to in the U.S., where obesity is arguably much greater. And for that matter, will Americans have even less motivation to eat healthy and exercise when presented with mannequins that support the fact that we’re all enormous?

In the end, though, it is in the best interest of our daughters and granddaughters to put business aside and start concentrating on changing beauty ideals - because I sure as heck know there is no Chanel dress in my near future.