Because Who Is Perfect?

Another happy Friday to everybody! If you are in Portland, you might be too distracted by the snowy surprise nature left us this morning to read this, but I, as always, hope you find today's post worth your while.

Some of you may have seen the Dove Real Beauty blind portrait video that was passing its way through the internet not too long ago. In it, female participants were asked to do two things: describe their faces to a professional sketch artist, and get to know a stranger who was participating in the experiment as well. The strangers were also asked to describe the women's faces to the sketch artist, and the drawings were compared, revealing not only the women's insecurities about their physical appearances, but also their actual impressions on people.

Swiss organization for people with disabilities, Pro Infirmis, recently conducted a project with a similar feel to it. The project, entitled “Because Who Is Perfect? Get Closer”, involved creating a series of clothing mannequins of actual people with disabilities. Their goal was to raise awareness that nobody has a perfect, mannequin-esque body. Participants included notable members of the disabled community, like Miss Handicap winner Jasmine Rechsteiner and actor Erwin Aljukic, who had never seen their figures replicated before.

The most striking part of this project, though, was not the mannequins themselves, but what Pro Infirmis did with them. In honor of the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which was December 3^rd, these unique mannequins were clothed and put in the window displays of stores along downtown Zurich's main street.

In the video that documents this project, some participants express their curiosities and doubt about the public's reaction to their mannequin selves. “I am keen to know whether people will see the disability,” one says, while another comments, “People passing by [the windows] will be really irritated.”

Passersby definitely took notice. Whether their reactions were mostly positive or negative is difficult to say, but it seems that Pro Infimis did what they set out to accomplish: bring attention to the disabled community, especially in the context of fashion.

Take a look at the video (my ultimate favorite part is at 2:34) and share your thoughts! What do you think about Pro Infirmis's project?