Topshop came under fire this week, after a student posted a picture calling the shop out on their irresponsible use of size 0 mannequins.
Becky Hopper posted a picture to Twitter standing next to a mannequin in the Topshop store in St. Stephen’s Shopping Centre, Hull, addressing the alarming body image being portrayed by the shop:
The girl on the left is a size 8/10. #Topshop #poorbodyimage #irresponsible #fashion #highstreet pic.twitter.com/mYbCZMYeSI
— Becky Leigh Hopper (@BeckyLHopper) October 27, 2014
The image was retweeted over 7,000 times, with the girl and her friend claiming the mannequin was a dangerous message to send out to young women shoppers.
Speaking to Buzzfeed, size 8/10 Becky said:
“I have seen mannequins like this before but never this bad. I think it’s possibly worse in the store than it looks on that photo. It appalled me, as it’s such a poor misrepresentation of the female body and just irresponsible from a company as big as Topshop.”
Although Becky’s initial tweet received a lot of support from fellow shoppers on Twitter, the student has since been accused of body shaming skinnier girls with her campaign.
Responding to the argument, Becky denies that was her intention and says the shops have a responsibility to represent women of all shapes and sizes:
“That’s not the case at all. All shapes and sizes should be represented to young people, not just skinny.”
Topshop have yet to make a formal statement following the online backlash to their choice in mannequins.
