SHOP WINDOW DISPLAY MANNEQUINS IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION.

• Author: Liu, Peiwei

1. Introduction

   Visual and communicative aspects of design activities have become a priority area of scientific research in recent years. Design presentation outlining and regarding it as a specific art and project-based creativity sphere is the result of civilizational changes and changes in social life. As highly complex formations that synthesize different types of design experience, artistic and aesthetic creativity and visualcommunicative practices, design presentations are implemented in both real and virtual world of the information age (Lahoda 2018a).

   Costume design and its presentation design, which have evolved over the centuries into an extensive and multilevel system of costume design representative practices can be regarded as the most expressive impersonation of the above mentioned (Lagoda 2020:27).

   Representative practices have acquired a special meaning fulfilling a wide range of functions. They have become an integral part of the fashion industry and an important factor of its development (Koneva 2013a). Opposing views about representative practices as well as the ambiguity of their stylistically unbalanced assessments, and sometimes quasi-aesthetic patterns are associated with the formation of new intellectual and value orientations in the designers' work.

   A decisive role is played by choosing the communication method as identification in the globalized world of costume (Todorovic 2014). In this context, the study of both visual and visualized image of the costume becomes relevant. They actualize the symbolic and signs reality and make representative practices an effective mechanism of consumer influencing and the consumer culture formation as a whole. This encourages the fashion industry to 'produce' systematically and spread an organized flow of new images as specific visual information (Koneva 2013b). This is what is represented on mannequins in the shop windows.

   Scientists have already developed general theoretical positions in the assessment of costume as a visual-informative phenomenon (Lagutina 2015); in determining the methodological approaches to the analysis of content, which are the basic condition for the occurrence, formation and functioning of design presentations (Samonenko 2011); criteria for their evaluation as art and design practices in the fields of visual, mass, everyday and even virtual cultures (Lahoda 2020). However, the project type of activity-design paradigm includes: thematization, actualization, problematization, implementation, projection (Sydorenko 2011). Each action has a direct connection with the problems of artistic image and is based on the aesthetics of feasibility and meaningfulness. Semantic image is a form of the project theme existence, it has a complex and multilevel structure as a result of the project process participants' subjectivity in a particular culture or cultural situation.

   The defining place in the outlined process is given to the aesthetic reflection structure, which V. Sydorenko, for example, formulates in the paradigm of three aesthetics (Sydorenko 1992). Aesthetic reflection is a manifestation form of the project creativity personalistic beginning, that is unique and only human ability of an individual to model the socio-cultural world as a human problem, as an artistic concept. The dominance of such modern design concepts as 'emotional design', 'service design' and 'social design' indicate that the efforts of designers are focused not only on the harmonization of subject-spatial environment but on its humanization too. Therefore, the design is involved in the formation processes of the subject-spatial environment, lifestyle and scenarios of consumer behavior. All this is reflected in socio-cultural transformations, in the aesthetic and ethical norms of society (Kataeva et al. 2018). The shop windows design with its arrangement and filling are also a reflection of the processes mentioned above.

   However, representative costume design practices have a key difference--they are directly related to the person as the wearer of the costume (Lahoda 2018b). The history of their origin took place in two different ways:

   * demonstration of clothing on a wearer or on an object that imitates it on a mannequin as a spatial presentation format;

   * fixation of a costume a person is wearing by artistic means as a generalized image of a contemporary which embodies society's aesthetic tastes in clothing and ideas of beauty ideals.

   Modern design activity shows a strong interest in the clothing individualization and personalization by means of design, which provides advantages in consumer choice of goods and creates their own image and style (Balla 2001). The connection between the results of designers' activities and the cultural, social and economic situation in society forms new strategies of artistic and design creativity, which are implemented at the figurative and stylistic level. Design as a key marketing concept conveys information about a design product to the consumer through its external qualities as if it was a personal experience. The individualization of the suit as a design product acquires axiological significance that changes the attitude of an individual and society to clothing in general.

   Consequently, the costume is a creative self-expression, an individualized aesthetic reflection of designers and consumers. In the fashion industry the role of a costume representative is traditionally performed by models during fashion shows or mannequins, in particular, in shop windows. Representative practices which involve mannequins have their own specifics, primarily connected with the fact that mannequins are part of larger design objects--shop windows and also play a role of special exposition equipment (Liu 2021a).

   In other words, the study of shop window mannequins as a costume representatives is the study of one design object that represents another--a costume within another design object in a shop window. The shop window design is not only a component of visual merchandising but also a product of exposition design. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to establish the relationships and subordination of these design objects in all possible contexts, for example: information-communicative, imagestylistic, constructive-compositional. It is also important to clarify and detail the shop windows and mannequins' functions as specific exposition equipment and an element of a separate group of representative costume design practices on the basis of the obtained results.

2. Literature review

   From the above-mentioned, the consideration of mannequin design in a shop window design (showcasing) as an element of visual merchandising is possible by studying the origin and development of exposition design. Specially organized worldwide industrial expositions, which influenced the design expositions formation and development have been conducted since 1851 with the organization of the first World Expo in London. Within its framework, the principles of representative design practices in particular clothing were introduced.

   There are three stages in the development of World Industrial Exhibitions identified in the works of K. Berger (2005), J. Lorenz and L. Skolnik (2008) and others: 1) ten exhibitions that took place before the First World War; 2) World exhibitions between the two world wars; 3) numerous international expositions and exhibition ensembles of the second half of the 20th century (Lorents et al. 2008, Syrova and Davyd 2016). These studied various aspects of exposition effectiveness and their productivity as well as the peculiarities of their visual perception. Thus, the evolution of changes in the practice of demonstrating the creativity of designers and the efforts of organizers to exhibit a large number of diverse exhibits within a single exposition space is seen as the exposition design formation and development. Their organization has launched a unique format for demonstrating industry achievements, due to the scale, location and time; the subject of the exposition, its structuring; preparation, construction of specially equipped and specially designed exposition space, their equipment and lighting; the organization of the exposition itself in the most effective way, when the presented displays demonstrate their purpose and thus make a strong impression on the audience (Lahoda 2018b).

   During the 20th century the specialized exposition practice has experienced differentiation. In the field of clothing design, it was divided into expositions of textile industry, textile and clothing equipment, accessories. Demonstrations of industrial clothing, in particular on mannequins, also took place as part of such events. And at the end of the 20th century there were regular specialized expositions of mannequins as exposition equipment and an important component of visual merchandising.

   M. Maistrovskaya characterizes exposition design as an exceptionally complex, synthetic, and multidimensional sphere. It "balances on the border of clear and rational architectural thought connected with functionality and comfort, technology and economy, rapid implementation of projects, and... has virtually unlimited possibilities of artistic expression, metaphor, ability to create vivid, emotional and meaningful images" (Maistrovskaya 2002). Thanks to the images and not only to the displays and specific information, the exposition constitutes a unique communicative system that affects the viewer, especially on an emotional level. This planned influence is defined as an 'exposure gesture'--a whole focus of directed actions and artistic acts on the demonstration, which determines the expected reaction of perception (Minervin 2004).

   Expo design as an object of research is seen as an artistic and design activity in scientific research, where typical characteristics and patterns are analyzed. One of the most important features in modern exposition practices is...