# Why do mannequins have nipples? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774 "2003-11-17T21:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/1 "2003-11-17T21:44:25Z")
Not being a prude about it or anything, but it seems rather superfluous to have them. I mean, arms, legs, head, torso, etc etc are all going to have a bearing on how clothes fit on the body, but nipples? I don’t know about that. And furthermore, how many female mannequins that are wearing bouses/shirts have a bra underneath? Probably none. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/2 "2003-11-17T21:47:03Z")
Don’t you think newborn mannequins need to eat? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/3 "2003-11-17T21:54:44Z")
So you can judge the thickness of the fabric? ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/4 "2003-11-17T22:48:09Z")
It attracts attention to the mannequins, I believe. “Oh my god, look at how realistic those mannquins are… they even have nipples!” or \ “What is this world coming to? Look at those naughty mannequins!” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/5 "2003-11-17T23:02:51Z")
Because they were created by Joel Schumacher? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/6 "2003-11-17T23:07:08Z")
I’d like to see mannequins with camel toes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dutchref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@dutchref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dutchref)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/7 "2003-11-17T23:23:38Z")
It’s ALWAYS cold in JC Penny’s! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/8 "2003-11-17T23:25:04Z")
To hold my key ring? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/9 "2003-11-17T23:40:04Z")
Now dudes- remember the rule here- FIRST someone gives the right answer, THEN you can give the smartass answer, OK? Alessan is correct, but left out a part of it- some clothes are supposed to be sexy, and thus the nipples show you how sexy (or thin/tight/revealing) those clothes are. Not all mannequins have nipples- many male ones don’t, nor do the ones for the more “mature” women. Those catering to high fashion, dance/party clothes and “5/7/9” however, usually do. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/10 "2003-11-18T13:23:55Z")
And nipples first appeared on mannequins fairly recently, say 1990 at the earliest. They certainly didn’t have them back in the 50’s and 60’s. I’ve gotta say they’re real eye-catching. I’ve also noticed a trend for many stores to leave one completely undressed, as if they’re still rearranging the window display. But a week later she’s still standing there shivering. But it worked: I did look at their display. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/11 "2003-11-18T13:27:49Z")
Sorry I jumped the gun. You say the word “nipples” around here and I think we’re in almost any other place than “GQ.” ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/12 "2003-11-18T17:27:52Z")
If you are ordering a mannequin from a distributor, the terminology for one with nipples is “sexy.” So all the previous info about material thickness and target audience is correct. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/13 "2003-11-18T20:59:36Z")
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mannequin with nipples. I don’t know if that’s because I shop in the fat women’s department, or because I don’t go around staring at the mannequins’ boobs. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/14 "2003-11-20T07:04:23Z")
It’s not like they’re anatomically correct. I remember reading the obit of some classic sleazeball garmento/fashion figure, whose very proud claim to fame was that he was the man who – against great opposition – introduced nipples on mannequins. You were meant to think, by his boasts and by the article, that the (supposed) opposition was silly and wasting their time. It occurred to me that perhaps living 70 years only to have your tombstone refer to your heroic efforts to insist on mannequin nipples also partook of such time wastage, but it also occurred to me that involvement in the fashion industry, at all, fell in this category. On a related point, tight trendy clothes may from time to time lead to such revelations, but it is not my impression that most women affirmatively _seek out_ such exposure or would view it as a positive factor, sufficient to have them buy the clothes on a mannequin thus aroused (esp. given the substantial efforts aimed by real women at covering up such anatomical and underclothing-based embarrassments/revelations). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/15 "2003-11-20T12:54:12Z")
Several years ago one of Saklt Lake City’s great but underappreciated editorial cartoonists (either Calvin Grondahl or Ed Begley) did a cartoonentitled “Night of the Living Mannequins”. It showed a store employee attempting to file the nipples off a store mannequin in response to a directive hun on the wall (“Remove Nipples! That’s an Order!”). The mannequins, not wanting to be filed there (who would?) were resisting. I strongly suspect the cartoon was a response to some local flap over mannequins with nipples – maybe some irate ZCMI customer demanding that the provocative things be removed. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/16 "2003-11-20T14:43:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LSLGuy \* > And nipples first appeared on mannequins fairly recently, say 1990 at the earliest. Longer than that. According to this [mannequin history](http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:nZ_R47qxc-gJ:www.fashionwindows.com/mannequin_history/014mannequins_smile.asp+mannequin+nipples&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) page, nipples first appeared in **1972**. That seems about right, as I remember them being tied into the women’s lib, bra burning phenomena; as an indicator that America was headed straight to the hot place. ---
**Author:** ![T.Mehr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@T.Mehr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Mehr)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/17 "2003-11-20T16:00:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by **Huerta88** \* > On a related point, tight trendy clothes may from time to time lead to such revelations, but it is not my impression that most women affirmatively _seek out_ such exposure or would view it as a positive factor, sufficient to have them buy the clothes on a mannequin thus aroused (esp. given the substantial efforts aimed by real women at covering up such anatomical and underclothing-based embarrassments/revelations). Are you sure? [check this out](http://www.strangecosmos.com/view.adp?picture_id=6644) Seems like some people are interested in how transparent their garment is! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mannequins-have-nipples/213774/18 "2003-11-20T16:29:27Z")
The mannequins look natural that way.