CALGARY- A former Calgary man is getting worldwide attention thanks to his amusing Tumblr page called ‘The Gap Mannequin Project.’
Steve Venegas, who now hosts a radio show in Vancouver, started the blog a few years ago as a way to pass the time while shopping with his wife. He dresses up identically to the mannequins in Gap stores, snaps a picture of it, then posts it on the blog.
“I honestly started it hoping that my friends would like it,” he continues. “It used to only live on Instagram and Twitter as a hashtag—I really didn’t expect more than a few people on Tumblr to like it.”
Like it they have, and on New Year’s Eve the page really took off. After posting a few of the photos online, he found out that style blog Put This On had shared it as their post of the year. It spread from there, eventually ending up on Mashable and Buzzfeed where it’s gotten nearly 100-thousand views.
“That’s where it really took off, and the followership for the blog went through the roof,” Venegas says.
He adds it was especially exciting when the Today Show noticed it.
“There was a news item read about it with some screen caps. That was really exciting, because they read my name and showed my photos to their some five million viewers at home.”
The Gap Mannequin Project has also been featured in Glamour UK and Esquire Spain. The Tumblr page now has over 10-thousand followers, and was also one of the site’s featured blogs.
Venegas has also become somewhat of a celebrity. During a recent outing at Gap, the staff recognized him and asked to be included in the photo.
As for what the future holds, Venegas says he hopes to collaborate with Gap on some upcoming projects.
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