A lot are 'hired' in. Ebay is a good source as well as trawling the net for sales outlets or stockists. I picked up a torso to use as a pattern for my bike tank and I found it, by just using Google, 12 miles from home.
Hello again Jonboy. Just a suggestion for your quest for a mannequin.
You could try asking for the window-dresser in any large department store, then ask them if they have anydamaged or obsolete mannequins you could buy.
Tell them its for an art project. You never know, you could strike lucky and get one really cheap or even free.
I am still on the look out for a Mannequin, just wondering what shops I could try and approach for any second hand and no longer wanted mannequins? When the big stores get rid of their Mannequins, I wonder how they dispose of them?
Where do you live? I've got several mannequins I could sell at a very nominal price. Most of them are shop mannequins but I do have one that is very out of the ordinary. They would have to be collected in person from near Guildford in Surrey.