5 Artistic Ways to Use a Mannequin at Home

A mannequin is often used in a retail shop to show off a shirt, sweater, or as part of a scarf display. However, as a sturdy sculptural form, it opens up lots of creative possibilities around your home or another space.

It can be painted as a piece of art, decorated, or dressed up for different holidays, even used as a garden ornament. If you sew or knit, it can be a body stand-in for any item of clothing you may be working on.

Here are some fun mannequin decoration ideas to inspire you.

1. Enhance Your Bar Area

An upper torso mannequin set alongside a bar area can “anchor” that setting. You can dress it to reflect a special occasion or a theme/holiday. Surround it with other related items. Add a sign holder stand with special messages for the occasion. Change this bar display up for different events, like the Super Bowl, a special birthday, or New Year's Eve/Day.

For example, one of our mannequin decoration ideas is to build a holiday theme around it. It may feature your mannequin with a Santa hat or draped in lights. Add related things around this centerpiece, like ornaments, tinsel, fake snow, and the like. You can even find instances where a mannequin sports a festive, floor-length "skirt" made from ornaments and lights to become a unique Christmas tree.

At “off” times, greenery and photos or artwork can substitute to create a piece of fun, vibrant decor in the space.

2. Stylish Closet Companion

Use a mannequin in your closet to drape scarves or your long necklaces. Wrap belts around the waist. It’s a great way to assemble outfits ahead of time that you’re considering wearing, from a dress and a certain scarf, to a shirt and jacket combination, to the right hat or other accessory. Mannequins provide a time-saving way to test-drive your fashion idea. Pro Tip: This is what stylists do in a high-end retail store!

If you’re a seamstress, use the dress form mannequin as a base as you fit or alter anything in your closet, or as you make something new. It's a cost-effective tool for getting the exact right look, every time.

3. Frame Your Memories

One of our favorite mannequin decoration ideas is to use the mannequin as a backdrop for your framed photos. Example: if you have pictures of a memorable beach vacation, dress the mannequin in a tropical shirt or your favorite piece of clothing from that adventure. Surround it with photos in frames of varying sizes.

You can also use the setup as a “vision board.” Let's say that you’d love to visit Paris; dress the mannequin in something French (like a beret) and find pictures that represent your dream vacation to surround it. It's a fun way to help keep your goal in mind.

4. Garden Guardian

Mannequin decoration ideas aren't limited to the indoors. Use a mannequin as decor in your garden setting.  Decorate it and surround it with potted plants or seasonal flowers. Rig it to hold a small birdfeeder. If it will be in a covered setting, use hot glue or other spray adhesive to attach pieces of fake moss to it, then let vines drape over it.

If you have a wire-frame shape, pack it with soil, moss, and other small plants like succulents to turn it into an eye-catching human-plant hybrid.

5. Inspire Creativity

If you’re a photographer, use the mannequin to try out various “looks” as test shots. When you’re sewing an outfit, let it work as your model. The same goes if you make jewelry: see how necklaces and the like “hang” at different lengths. A mannequin helps you achieve your ideal vision by showing little details the eye might otherwise miss.

Artists can use the piece as a blank canvas. Paint it in a bold color, and choose other embellishments, depending on your overall idea. Use it for fabric or other textured materials like papier-mache, glass, beads, ribbon, and more.

A full-size mannequin or other kinds of dress forms are a great way to explore and show off your unique ideas. Decorate it and use the display image for Facebook, Instagram, or in a blog post; they'll help you build traffic and generate comments.

If you sell clothing online, it can be used as a "ghost mannequin." Place your item on the mannequin against a white backdrop for a more realistic look. Digital photography is then used to "erase" the mannequin from the image. It's an increasingly popular technique that's been shown to drive sales in an online shop.

Conclusion

While we're used to seeing dress forms and mannequins used in retail settings, they can have another life. From a fun home decor display to tools to create unique art pieces or to decorate for a holiday, a mannequin has many more lives outside of a store setting or shop display.

There are so many unique mannequin decoration ideas you can find online (check out Pinterest for even more inspiration). The only thing required is an open mind and an adventurous sense of creativity.

Let our mannequin decoration ideas revive your home, garden, or even your online retail presence!