Actress Hilary Swank with Winner James Nolan

As part of Triumph’s 2009 Inspiration Award, several international fashion design students presented their designs at a special catwalk show that kicked off this season’s Milan Fashion Week. Students from 28 countries and regions around the world participated in the contest, which required them to design pieces with creative interpretations of this year’s award motto: “Icons.”

James Nolan, a 20-year-old from Great Britain, walked away with the first place prize for his “Odette and Odile” icon piece. He won Euro 15,000 and a career-boosting limited edition of the winning piece. Nolan’s piece will be adapted and interpreted by Triumph’s design team, leading to a series production of the set, which will be sold at certain Triumph stores worldwide next year.

Coming in second place and winning the Euro 10,000 prize was Australian Katinka Poole’s “Harbour Mirage” design, which drew inspiration from the Sydney Opera House. Shani Elkin from Israel won the third place prize of Euro 5,000 with her “Jerusalem” design.

The jury—which included Academy Award winning actress Hilary Swank; editor-in-chief of Vogue Italy Franca Sozzani; Honk Kong’s international model Qi Qi; fashion photographer Giovanni Gastel; co-founder and creative director of fashion label Miss Sixty Wichy Hassan; and head of global sales and marketing at Triumph, Jan Rosenberg—judged all the entries based on the same criteria: innovation and creativity in interpreting the design motto, individuality, concept, aesthetics, quality in design and execution, and presentation.

“Success is the result of talent and hard work. I am thrilled to see how both come together in these passionate pieces by young fashion design students—they truly deserve a stage such as the Triumph Inspiration Award,” said Hilary Swank.

See the winning pieces below and what each designer had to say about their show-pieces.

Icon: Odette and Odile

1st Place Winner: James Nolan

“My main influence was the 1800’s crinoline. Body distortion fascinated me and it was my objective to make this dark subject beautiful. My icons needed to represent my ideas of manipulation, distortion and metamorphosis and the story of Swan Lake is perfect. The dance tells the tale of love and magic where a princess is turned into a swan by an evil magician.”

Icon: Sydney Opera House

2nd Place Winner: Katinka Poole

“Harbour Mirage offers a fresh interpretation of the groundbreaking design of Sydney’s iconic Opera House—an iconic architectural design that plays a key role in forming one of the most unique and dramatic city skylines in the world. It playfully strikes a balance between the bold and the sensual, iconic and glamorous and the audacious and seductive.”

Icon: Jerusalem

3rd Place Winner: Shani Elkin

“My lingerie is inspired by Jerusalem, a holy city for all religions and believers. This vision of common life is expressed by a unique calligraphy print of the letters in Hebrew and Arabic, dancing together as one.”

The Triumph Inspiration Award was founded in 2008 as a global design competition which challenges students from prestigious international design schools to create a conceptual show-piece set using an underwired bra and brief.

To see all participating designs, visit the Award website here.