Jasmin Rechsteiner, winner of the 2010 Miss Handicap competition, wasn't used to seeing her image in the fashion world - until she saw her body in the form of a mannequin.
"Seeing it there for real is quite a shock," said Rechsteiner, who has a spinal deformation.
In a project titled "Because Who Is Perfect? Get Closer," Pro Infirmis, a Swiss advocate group for the disabled, built several mannequins modeled after real people with disabilities. In honor of International Day of People with Disabilities, the mannequins were displayed yesterday in shop windows in Bahnhofstrasse, a popular shopping area in Zurich, Switzerland.
"It is special to see yourself like this. When you usually can't look at yourself in the mirror," Rechsteiner said.
The entire process was documented in a video. Other participants include Paralympic Athlete Urs Kolly, whose leg is amputated below the knee, and film critic Alex Oberholzer, who has a hand and part of his leg missing.
Mainstream fashion mannequins usually shown in windows were taken down to make room for the "disabled" mannequins. Pro Infirmis' project comes at a time when other groups are raising awareness of the fashion industry's unrealistic standards of beauty. British department store Debenhams was in the news earlier this year for its catalog that showed women with amputated limbs, The Huffington Post said. Department store Nordstrom has also done ads with disabled people in a campaign to show the diversity of its shoppers, said The Huffington Post.
