Secret life of a 'human mannequin': Fittings model reveals what it's really like to get paid to try on clothes (and she admits NO two shops have the same dress sizes)

  • Fittings model Megan Taylor, from Surrey, 'represents the average woman'
  • The clothes you wear each day could well have been fitted on her
  • Here, she reveals the truth about vanity sizing and varying measurements

By Megan Taylor For Mailonline

Published: 04:42 EST, 8 December 2015 | Updated: 09:16 EST, 8 December 2015

I am a fittings model - a human mannequin that is there to represent the average man or woman. This means that the clothes you wear each day could well have been fitted on me.

Fittings models try on every garment that a shop sells - from the very first fitting to the final piece. They tell the design team and garment technicians how the clothes feel on the body, who then alter the clothes to fit everyone.

It’s not a glamorous world, you are often changing in the toilets and getting pins stuck in you, but it is a fabulous job that allows you to have flexible hours with wonderful pay.

Megan works with technicians who are meticulous and absolute wizards at understanding a clothing pattern

Megan works with technicians who are meticulous and absolute wizards at understanding a clothing pattern

And it's a secret life which many people know nothing about. So I’ve decided to reveal all.

From getting scratched to pieces thanks to the pins in the clothes, to once getting a free haircut thanks to a garment technician slicing into a hood I was wearing to make it looser, my day can be varied.

It can also consist of wearing underwear your other half should never see you in, having burning feet thanks to standing heels for eight hours, and knowing inside out the measurements of every part of my body (scroll down for full box).

But there are many perks – such as seeing designers’ collections up to 18 months before even Anna Wintour has had a peek.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the fit of clothes, vanity sizing and the nations changing body shapes – something that I encounter on a daily basis.

Clothing sizing is a minefield. However, here it is in its most basic form.

THE SECRET LIFE OF A FITTINGS MODEL 

Megan she says even if three companies fit on a size 8, their measurements may not be the same

Megan she says even if three companies fit on a size 8, their measurements may not be the same

1. You will be stabbed numerous times

It is inevitable that you will be continuously stabbed and scratched with pins and safety pins.

Garment technicians are very rushed with their time and through no fault of their own they often forget you are a human.

Don’t blame them though, they have a busy schedule and probably thought, for a brief moment that you were just the mannequin.

When fitting trousers, it is common for the trouser leg to be pinned all the way down the back of the leg to achieve the right fit.

Once, whilst fitting a white pair of jeans I was pinned all the way down the leg. I took said trousers off, sliced (scratched) my legs and bled all over the trousers, whoopsy.

2. You may get a free haircut

I was once having a coat fitted on me and the hood was too tight over head. The garment tech then cut into the hood to make it looser.

I then watched a small chunk of my hair fall in slow motion to the floor.

I cried inside for a month.

3. You will share your lunch with everyone

When in a fitting, you have to be very open to sharing small spaces with those fitting on you.

The close proximity you will encounter is similar to that on a crowded rush hour tube at Oxford Circus in the peak of the summer holidays.

If you or the garment technician had tuna or onion soup for lunch, the other will definitely be eating those scented particles with you for the rest of the fitting.

Be kind to your colleagues and stick to plain rice and lettuce.

4. A million people are going to see you in no more than a thong

You can not have any inhibitions.

You will, without a doubt only have your thong to cover your modesty 50% of the time.

When fitting high fashion lines, you are likely to fit in just a thong, no bra.

A lot of the collection (in the early stages) will be made in thin see-through fabric.

Did I forget to mention you will also be in a room of at least 8 people.

These people will be examining the clothing you are wearing but you feel as if they are just staring at your nipples.

5. You will wear the most unsexy underwear

Never ever let your man see you in your fittings underwear.

Model underwear is and always will be a nude thong or panties and a nude bra.

You will feel and very much look like an elderly Bridget Jones.

**Top Tip: Do not buy expensive underwear.

It is common to have your underwear drawn on with a sharpie or tippex and/or sliced with scissors.

If you have a denim fitting session your knickers will turn blue. Even your bath turns blue when you have your evening soak.

Her top tip is: 'Do not be disheartened if you have to go up a size in a shop… just cut out the label'

Her top tip is: 'Do not be disheartened if you have to go up a size in a shop… just cut out the label'

6. Your changing facilities will not represent the personal shopping suite at Victoria’s Secret

I have fitted for about 30 different fashion houses and can only recollect two of those having carpetted flooring.

Among those companies, only five of them had a permanent fittings changing room.

My favourite companies to work for are those that have a fluffy dressing gown and slippers for their model.

These companies are the angels of the fittings world.

7. You will know how many millimetres big or small you are EVERYWHERE

You will be regularly measured to within a millimetre and you will slowly learn these measurements by heart.

You will know if your boobs are too high or your hips 1cm too wide or even that one shoulder is higher than the other.

You will learn not to care…just remember you are being paid a lot of money to try on clothes!

8. You will never feel less like a model

As a fit model you are meant to be a representative to all the women nationwide.

The “models” who are on the catwalk are there to show the designers garments in their best light by not clinging to the body but draping as if on a human clothes hanger.

You will regularly hear, “well on the model (not meaning you) it was much looser”, “on the actual models” …etc etc etc, blah blah blah.

9. You will conflict the seasons

It is very common that you will fit winter coats in the peak of summer and bikinis on the snowiest days of the winter months.

I am not sure what is better, trying on coats and feeling as if you may faint from the heat, or turning blue from trying on swimwear in December?

10. Your feet will burn with pain

You will often be booked for an eight hour fitting.

Your feet will 100% feel as if they are broken and will only recover at 8:55 the next morning before you walk in the office for the next day of tootsie torture.

I am still yet to discover the perfect pair of comfortable black heels. If you have found them, please let me know.

Every fashion house has a fittings model. They may fit on a size 8 and maybe a size 12. It is different everywhere.

Even if three companies fit on a size 8, their measurements may not be the same.

I fit a size 8 at most companies, but I have fitted at others as a size 6 and others as a size 10 within the same week.

Each company's fitting measurements are likely to be different. This is because they are catering to their own target audience and customers body shape.

This is where vanity sizing may come into effect.

No one really knows what the true measurements are for each size anymore. Clothing sizes have changed throughout the years along with our expanding waists. I would probably be a size 14 back in the 1970s.

'No one really knows what the true measurements are for each size anymore. Clothing sizes have changed throughout the years along with our expanding waists. I would probably be a size 14 back in the 1970s'

'No one really knows what the true measurements are for each size anymore. Clothing sizes have changed throughout the years along with our expanding waists. I would probably be a size 14 back in the 1970s'

Not only are our measurements changing the size labels, no one tends to be one size up and down their body. Your bust may be a size 14, hips size 10, waist size 8. Everyone's body is different.

Just stay healthy and wear clothes that make you happy.

Don’t be disheartened if you have to go up a size in a shop… just cut out the label if that makes you feel happier.

Having been doing this job for ten years, I have learned that when buying fashion, you really get what you pay for.

The very expensive high-end designers tend to have their own studios in their offices where there are a team of sewing elves that make samples very quickly.

This means that design teams can do their fittings with the people that make the clothes and adjust the garments on site rather than shipping each sample off to foreign factories.

The amount of time and effort that goes into making one silk strap top, for instance, can be up to six months. I now understand why they may be charging thousands of pounds for a piece.

A typical day for me when I am fitting can be a three hours fitting session first thing, then if I am lucky I can swing by an audition in the West End, then pop into another fitting in the afternoon for a few hours. It is a guaranteed income.

And another perk is you know what will be in fashion next year. You get invited to all the sample sales. If you are lucky you ever get given clothes for free. 

Read more from Megan's blog The Secret Life Of A Fittings Model here.

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