Adel Rootstein's move toward more ethnic diversity is mostly reflected in a mannequin's skin tone and the shape of lips, eyes and other facial features, not in body type, Steward said. He said he did not see the emphasis on the behind lasting beyond a few seasons.
"It's a little sexist," he said. "It's not creating an image of a woman as an elegant creature. It's a little bit down and dirty, a little crass."
"The old mannequin with no hips and no butt carried couture very well, but much less so a pair of jeans," he said.
Still, the sight of a voluptuous mannequin can come as a shock. Knoth, of Goldsmith Inc, said that people seemed bewitched by the Sex line mannequins at a trade show in Las Vegas last March.
"Men, women and children wanted to touch them," he said.
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