An English Bridal Boutique Put a Dress on a Mannequin and Everyone Loves It

If you’ve heard the phrase “representation matters” lately, congratulations, because you’ve been paying attention. What it means is that there’s value in every single person, no matter their gender, color, race, religion, abilities, etc, and they deserve to be able to see themselves represented in media and in the world.

Which is why people were quick to embrace this English bridal boutique after they put a gown on a mannequin, sat her in a wheelchair, and put her in their window display.

Photo Credit: Twitter

With over 6.8 million Americans requiring mobility assistance, it shouldn’t be so surprising to see a business display their gowns in a way that shows they look as great sitting down as standing up, but the fashion industry isn’t exactly known for embracing “different” when it comes to modeling.

Photo Credit: Twitter

The owner of the boutique (White Collection Bridal Boutique in Portishead, England) is Laura Allen, and she talked about their decision regarding the display to TODAY Style.

“For this season we wanted to strip it right back and have a mannequin in each window. Our thoughts of having one of them in a wheelchair was ‘why not?’ And we didn’t really think too much about it.”

They’re thinking about it now – someone snapped a photo and uploaded it online, causing hundreds of people to pat them on the back. Brides in wheelchairs, after all, deserve the same dress-buying experience as everyone else.

Photo Credit: Twitter

More from Allen:

“We didn’t think that our window would get this much attention, but what it really has done is it has opened up a (worldwide!) discussion about inclusivity in this industry, which can only be a good thing!”

“If the window has done anything, it’s shown us how much of an impact having a wheelchair user in the window has caused, and hopefully as time goes by, things like this will not cause so much of a big response, because there will be a lot more of it around.”