Manhattan Mannequins

It was a cold, rainy spring day in Manhattan where Angela Moretti woke up to her 5:45 am alarm buzzing next to her ear. She quickly shut off the alarm and sat up looking through her window out onto the busy street that lay hundreds of feet below her. She checked her phone and groaned when she saw all the messages she received from her boss. As she was flipping through all her text messages, the date on her phone caught her eye. It dawned on her that a year ago today she had graduated from college. Angela flashed back to that day and remembered how excited she was. She was so proud of graduating near top of her class from FIT with a highly coveted internship lined up at a top fashion magazine. Angela’s phone buzzed and she quickly snapped out of her trance. Her boss texted her again for the third time, this one was her breakfast order. Angela thought back to her graduation day and thought about how naïve she was about her future. Everything was so glamorous to her then. Now, she looked around her shabby 350 square foot studio apartment, her life was anything but. The internship that Angela couldn’t wait to begin had now become the thing she dreaded most. She had hoped that they would have offered her a job by now but she still remained their gofer. Instead of working with clothing she was fetching coffee at the crack of dawn. She finally dragged herself out of bed and started her daily grind.

            After Angela brought her boss coffee, she received her list of things that needed to be fetched for the day. Her boss, Anna, practically threw the list at her without even looking in her general direction. Anna then returned to the models she was working with and weeded through outfits. Before Angela embarked on her scavenger hunt across the city, she paused to look at the models. They were all so tall, thin, with flawless complexions and facial features. They didn’t even look real to her. Angela caught herself wishing that she were more like them. The way that the clothes hung on them so perfectly made Angela rage with envy. She was a size eight, on a good day, and the clothes that Angela dreamed about owning are ones that she couldn’t even fit into. She began to wonder if the reason she hadn’t received a job yet was because she didn’t have the double zero waist. “Angela?” Anna snapped her fingers in front of Angela’s face. “Hello?” Anna insultingly questioned. “Yes?” Angela replied, trying to mask her rage. “I need you to get moving on that list. Everything has to be here by noon for the photo shoot. No exceptions.” Anna said curtly. Angela nodded and quickly moved out the door.

            After moving from borough to borough, Angela was exhausted, but she just had one shop left on her list with an hour to spare. Angela always loved going to this last shop because the shop owner was always kind to her. She was an older Italian lady named Magdalena. Magdalena reminded Angela of her grandmother who like Magdalena, grew up in Italy. Angela had been very close with her grandmother before she died a few years ago so visiting with Magdalena was somewhat bittersweet. As soon as Angela set one foot into the shop she heard “Angie! I was wondering when I was going to see you again.” Magdalena said smiling from ear to ear. She was standing behind a counter that was almost as tall as she was Angela almost didn’t see her. “Hi Magda. It’s been too long. I saw your new collection in the window and it looks beautiful.” She said as she bent over to give Magdalena a hug. Magdalena laughed while she sets a bag onto the counter, “Well I’m glad you like it. I have your order all ready to go because I’m sure you’re in a hurry.” Angela rolled her eyes, “Yeah, well, actually, this is my last stop and I have about an hour to kill. I’ve been doing this job long enough that I could do it in my sleep.” Magdalena gives a sympathetic look, “Oh honey, that boss of yours is running you ragged. You are too smart and talented to be doing this for her.” It’s times like these that Angela felt like she was talking to her grandmother. It broke her heart a little that she wasn’t able to. Her grandmother always knew how make her feel better and point her in the right direction when she was lost. Angela forced a smile, “Thanks.” Magdalena moved out from behind the counter, “Come downstairs with me, I have to get something I made for you.”

Angela followed the little woman through the hallway and down the steps of some rickety old stairs. “Magda you didn’t have to make something for me” Angela said feeling guilty and undeservingly. Magdalena’s clothing was beautiful and had been featured on some of the most well-known models. Magdalena scrambled around in the basement of her shop looking for Angela’s gift. When she found it, Angela couldn’t believe it was for her. It was the most beautiful green scarf that she had ever seen. “Magda this is too beautiful. I can’t take this.” “Oh stop. You will take it. The color matches your eyes. It will look perfect on you.”  Magdalena said smiling. Angela felt like wearing the scarf would disgrace Magdalena’s work. “Magda, something this beautiful should be worn on someone equally as beautiful.” Angie said sadly thinking about the models she had seen earlier in the day. “Well, then I gave it to the right person” Magdalena replied. “Magdalena?” One of the workers asked at the top of the stairs. “Will you excuse me, hon?” Magdalena said as started walking up the stairs. Angela was left in the basement alone with the perfect green scarf around her neck. She wandered around the basement and found a door cracked open. She opened up the door and slid her hand up against the wall to find a light switch. When the room became flooded with light, she saw life like mannequins staring back at her. “Oh my God” Angela said clutching her chest. The mannequins looked so real. There were at least ten of them crammed into this little storage room. She went up to them and inspected them one by one. They weren’t like the mannequins you would normally see in department stores. These ones actually looked like real people that you would see walking on the street. They looked…normal. Some were black, some were white, and some were even on the larger size. Angela thought about the ones that are typically in department stores, they were usually all white, thin, and with perfect facial features. Just like models. Angela continued to inspect the mannequins and looked at one’s hand. It was carved with “Master…” she couldn’t make out the rest. “Oh, there you are. I’m sorry. I had to help a customer.” Magdalena said sounding out of breath. “Magda” Angela said, “Where did you get these?” Magdalena couldn’t help but laugh, “These were left here, honey. I didn’t know what to do with them but didn’t have the heart to throw them away. They are beautiful though, aren’t they?” Magdalena asked while admiring the mannequins. “How come you don’t use them for your shop?” Angela pressed. “Oh, you know how people are. They want to see clothes on something that most people look nothing like. That’s the only way to sell things in this country.” That struck a chord with Angela. How could she have been so stupid, she thought. Here she was admiring how beautiful and different these mannequins were yet hours ago she was wishing she looked like a model from the magazine. Angela smiled and shook her head, “Magda, I have to get going. Thank you so much for this scarf. It is beautiful and I love it.” Angela took her time heading back to the magazine. Processing everything that she had just come to realize.

            Back at the magazine, Angela was greeted by Anna’s scowling face. “I made myself clear that this shoot started at noon and I needed everything by then. You are fifteen minutes late. This is unacceptable. And where did you get that scarf? I hope that isn’t one of the items for the models that you are wearing.” Angela smiled, “No this was a gift from a friend.” She proceeded to hand over all of the bags to Anna. “I know one of Magdalena’s scarves when I see one. Hand it over. It should be worn by one of the models not by some intern.” Anna snapped. Angela kept her calm, “Like I said, this was a gift from a friend. I’m not giving you my scarf but I will give you this instead”. Angela took off the magazine photo I.D. that was hanging around her neck and handed it to Anna. Anna looked at Angela like she was crazy, “Do you realize what you are doing? You are giving up an opportunity that most women would kill for.” “What I am giving up is working for a place and in an industry that brainwashing us into believing that, that” as she points to a model “that is what we are supposed to look like. That is what we should strive to be. That is what is perfect and beautiful, people who look like gaunt skeletons with no expression on their faces. They probably haven’t even eaten in days.” She pauses for a second. “So yes, to answer your question, I realize exactly what I am doing now. I realize that, that isn’t what beautiful is. I don’t want to look like that and I especially don’t want to work for a place that tells other people to strive to look like that.” Angela backs away from Anna and heads for the door. She walked outside onto the busy New York City street with the green scarf around her neck, feeling like she can breathe for the first time in a year.