A ghost mannequin shot shows a garment holding its shape with nobody inside it. The neck opening is closed, the inside of the collar is visible, and the piece looks worn rather than folded. On a listing it does one job very well: it tells a buyer how the thing sits on a body.
How it is actually made
It is two or more photographs, not one. The garment is shot on a mannequin, then shot again inside-out or laid flat so the inner collar and hem are on camera. In post, the mannequin is removed and the inner pieces are composited back into the neck, cuffs and vents so the shell reads as continuous.
That is why the brief matters: if the second exposure was never taken, the neck join has to be invented, and invented joins look like what they are.
When a flat lay is the better call
Flat lays are quicker, cheaper and perfectly honest for anything whose shape does not carry the sale — scarves, socks, folded basics, most accessories. Ghost mannequin earns its cost on structured pieces: jackets, shirts, dresses, tailoring, anything where the shoulder line and the drape are the product.
What to send
Send the on-mannequin frame and the inner-collar frame from the same lighting setup, plus a note on how the neck should close. If you have an approved reference from a previous season, send that too — matching an existing set is faster than agreeing a new one.
