“Inspiration can be many things: a burst of creativity, an idea out of the blue or the great result of a long, hard process. But one thing it always is: a fresh perspective.” The 40+ year old mainstay of lingerie, Triumph International, has unveiled their Triumph Inspiration Award for 2008. Think of the TIA as a non-televised Project Runway focusing only on lingerie. This year’s theme is Female Fasciantion.

“It’s about being inspired by women’s enchantment to create a unique piece of lingerie that flatters the female body, tempts the eye and make the wearer feel truly special.”

Triumph has worked with various design schools to identify students to participate in the program. The young creatives have to compete at a national level. They will be competing against other students. It’s about coming up with simply the best concept with regard to the theme.

This is truly a global competition. Triumph is working with schools in over 20 countries.

There are four phases for TIA this year.

• Phase I: November 2007 – March 2008: Young talented designers in over 30 countries and regions are challenged to find the most inspired and inspiring lingerie design and start creating design concepts dedicated to this year’s Award motto Female Fascination.
• Phase II: March – May 2008: The National Finals take place in over thirty countries and regions worldwide. The first place of each national competition automatically qualifies for the International Final in Beijing.
• Phase III: 31st July, 2008: The day of the International Final in Beijing: The international finalists present their showpiece on stage. An internationally renowned jury will come to a decision on first, second and third place of the 2008 Award.
• Phase IV: 2008-2009: The international winner of the Triumph Inspiration Award will work together with a Triumph design team in order to adapt and interpret his/her showpiece for a commercial piece. The product will then be sold as a limited edition in selected Triumph stores worldwide.

Triumph is also lining up key mentors to work with the students including Daniel Herman, Bernadett Penkov, and Ines Stüben along with a dozen others.

As the contest progresses, we’ll update you on The Lingerie Post. Here are some of the national winners.