Boutique sends out message on inclusivity after a plus sized mannequin ridiculed

Team Udayavani, Jun 28, 2021, 11:41 AM IST

A plus-size mannequin on window display at a UK bridal store was being fat-ashamed and jeered at by passersby.

The plus-size mannequin was nicknamed Fuchsia and put up at Somerset Bridal in Minehead in April.

Fuchsia was being ridiculed so often that would-be brides shopping at the store started getting affected.

After two months of constantly facing ridicule, the owner of the store, Debbie Shelley, 53, finally decided to deal with it.

“Fuchsia has feelings and we think she is stunning,” the store owner put up a sign near the mannequin.

“Please send lots of love not laughs,” another signboard read.

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A post shared by Somerset Bridal (@somersetbridal)

Shelly told that as passersby laughed at the Size 32 mannequin on a daily basis, she put up another note asking people: “Are you laughing? or Are you fat-shaming?”

As per BBC News, “We’ve had women with children laughing at the mannequin and coming up to the window and saying ‘don’t ever get that fat love, because no one’s ever going to want to marry you are they?” Shelly added, “That’s been the most hurtful part for me.”

The store owner while sharing another photo of the mannequin in another dress joked: “She is now famous, (she is charging me £50 for her autograph – cheek!)”. She also added that now passersby are “proud to have their photo taken with her, it is AMAZING!!!!”

Further thanking people for their support, the owner wrote, “If ever there was proof needed that there is more love for her than hate then the sheer volume of messages and emails we have received definitely shows us. Thank you to everyone for giving Fuchsia the thumbs up.”