Apparently, fashion magazines, designers and marketers had it all wrong. This is particularly interesting because it has the potential to disrupt the entire fashion industry or it could just be swept under the rug. Given the nature of the situation I doubt the latter will prevail.
*Source: http://www.thefashioncult.com/2009/04/well-fed-models-can-sell-clothes/
A note to stores, fashion magazines and designers: If you want sell more clothing, pick mannequins and models that look like your customers.
According to a researcher at Cambridge University, women are a lot more likely to make a purchase when they see the item on models who look like them, the Guardian reported.
Barry created fake magazine advertisements with models of different sizes, shapes and ethnicities and showed them to 3,000 women in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.
“The vast majority of women significantly increase purchase intentions when they see a model that reflects their age, size and race,” Barry told the Guardian.
Such studies are slowly pushing designers and magazines to put curvier women into the forefront, instead of as a stunt or as an occasional feature.
“The industry operates in its own bubble, but advertisers and magazine editors need to be mindful of who their target market is and how the models reflect that market, catch up and change,” Barry said.
*Source: Lindsay Goldwert, NYDailyNews
