Tailoring dummy

While stitching a suit together, a tailor would generally drape fabric on a model torso to get a sense of how it would look on the wearer. Tailor’s dummies, also known as dress forms, date back to the 15th century, when they would be used to demonstrate fashions to clients. Over time, full-bodied dummies were placed in shop windows to attract customers and the shop mannequin was born.