HIGH street fashion retailer Topshop has promised to stop buying a type of skinny mannequin after a Stroud resident posted a complaint on its Facebook page.

Laura Berry, who works for Ecotricity in Stroud, was frustrated at a “ridiculously tiny mannequin” when she went into the branch at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol.

“Dear Topshop,” she wrote, “having been paid yesterday, I decided to spoil myself by purchasing a new pair of my favourite Jamie jeans.

“However, I was stopped in my tracks by the mannequin in the picture I’ve shared with this post.

“I’d love to hear how you can justify the ridiculously tiny mannequin in your Bristol Cribbs Causeway store? We come in all shapes and sizes.

“This mannequin is quite frankly ridiculously shaped.

“Young women aspire to the somewhat cult image your store offers. Yet not one mannequin in your store showed anything bigger than a size six.

“Perhaps it’s about time you became responsible for the impression you have on women and young girls and helped them feel good about themselves rather than impose these ridiculous standards.

“Thanks for reading this, Laura. PS just so you know, after taking this picture I used my size 10/12 legs to walk straight out of your store.”

Her post was shared 460 times and gained around 3,500 ‘likes’.

To her surprise, Topshop replied to her comment saying the company would not be placing any further orders on that style of mannequin.

The reply said: “We think it’s important to showcase a healthy size image, from the choice of models used in campaigns, to the stories featured online and on the blog.

“For some background, the mannequin you saw in store is supplied by a company that has been working with lots of different retailers for the past 30 years.

“This particular style is used in small number of our stores and is based on a standard UK size 10. “The overall height (187cm) is taller than the average girl and the form is stylised to have more impact in store.

“As the mannequins are solid fibreglass, their form needs to be of certain dimensions to allow clothing to be put on and removed easily – this is therefore not meant to be a representation of the average female body.”

Ms Berry has since started a petition to establish a single and standardised sizing category to be recognised and used universally throughout the clothing industry. To sign go to http://chn.ge/1giWcqq

And she even made it into Vogue News