In 1966, the word was 'knees'

When the National Association of Display Industries gathered in December 1965 for its New York Spring Market Week, the U.S. economy was humming. Maybe that's why the watchwords of the market seemed to be “elegance,” “taste” and “style” — as in “the need of displaymen for props, decorative fixtures, mannequins and materials that will impress and sell the affluent customer who either has achieved a high level of taste or is eagerly striving for it.” In other words, 1966 consumers were shopping and buying, following trends and searching for labels, much as they are today.

There was also the growing realization among retailers that an up-and-coming young market had to be addressed. “The youthful customer also has received particular attention from display manufacturers that the teen and the matron don't speak the same fashion language, and this must be reflected in departments and displays catering to the teen-college crowd.” Nobody was yet using the term “baby boomer,” but that's who the industry was talking about.

Another watchword in January 1966 was “knees.” Mannequin designers and manufacturers were realizing that as hemlines were creeping up, higher and higher — higher, in fact, than they'd ever been — mannequins must realistically reflect more of the female leg than they were accustomed to. So the mannequin companies that flocked to market week — Decter, D.G. Williams, Flair, Greneker Visual, Madisonia, Manhattan Motion, Prisco Brothers, Nat Siegel, Tero, De Stefano Studios, Herzberg-Robbins, Artistic Mannequin and Wolf & Vine (pictured) — all were eager to demonstrate that they understood and could replicate the fashionable new 60s female model.