About a month ago, Missguided, a U.K. based fashion retailer, debuted their diverse mannequins. These mannequins highlight women of different ethnicities and different skin characteristics like freckles, stretch marks and vitiligo. Missguided released these mannequins because they want every woman to feel beautiful, and to see that beauty represented in their two stores.

In society today, it is all too common for women to feel less-than because of the aesthetically perfect ideal that the media portrays. The ads that we see of women are morphed and distorted to fit that ideal image when even the models posing themselves do not look like the finished product. More and more, consumers are choosing the product that successfully addresses these issues, and is seriously steering away from brands who don’t. Women, now more than ever, are supporting other women and supporting brands who support them.

It has been a long discussion of the need to create and display more inclusive mannequins in retail stores. Mannequins with more inclusive body sizes, skin colors, ethnicities, and skin conditions are all being demanded more and more from the public. Missguided is a drop in the bucket of this but is the start of a movement for diversity and empowerment that is long overdue.

I applaud Missguided for taking the needs and wants of their consumers so seriously, and for recognizing that there is more to the definition of beauty than just what the media and society show us. These mannequins have been extremely well received by people all over the world. They are being applauded for creating mannequins that look like REAL women and including things like vitiligo and stretch marks that we have never seen on mannequins, or even in retail overall, before.

The only negative feedback I have for this company is the need to release fuller-figure mannequins. What they have done so far is a great step towards the inclusivity that needs to happen in the industry, but still lacks the representation of fuller figure women. Overall I think Missguided is heading in the right direction when it comes to being conscious and inclusive of its customers, and showing to them that they believe every women is beautiful. I applaud their efforts, and can’t wait to see what they come out with next