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.

And now, in a fantastic boost to her fledgling design career, she is looking forward to the moment when her winning design rolls off the production lines.

When it arrives in Triumph stores throughout Europe and Asia early in August, Midori’s intriguing design is destined to be the talk of the town.

Midori called her concept “Under Skin”. She says, “When women feel like crying, they tend to hide it. What this kind of delicate feeling and lingerie have in common is that both are only revealed to the important people in a woman’s life, those who are closest to her. I designed my lingerie to look like the face of a crying woman to illustrate this closeness and intimacy.”

The students participating in TIA08 were asked to interpret the theme “Female Fascination” and to create a unique showpiece including an under-wired bra and brief, that reflected the enchantment of women.

70 international design schools in 31 countries and regions took part in the competition which was judged by fashion experts including designers Viktor and Rolf; supermodel Helena Christensen; photographer Ellen von Unworth and creative director Sarah from Colette in Paris.

After winning the Triumph Inspiration Award 08, Midori met Triumph designers at the company’s design centre in Hong Kong. They discussed the developments that would transform her winning showpiece into a design that could go on sale commercially.

The result is remarkably faithful to the original. The stunning, multi-way, black padded bra (£50) sparkles with silver threads, diamanté and crystals and is trimmed with black satin and “eyelash” fringing.

The matching tanga (£25) is in nude stretch net appliquéd with radiating narrow black lines. The padded lips at the front are removable.

The set will arrive in Triumph stores in Cambridge, Cardiff, Leicester and Walton on Thames early in August. Bra sizes are 32 – 36 B & C and the brief is in S, M, L. Each item will have a special descriptive hang tag.

Meanwhile, students from top design schools all over the world are again busy creating designs for the Triumph Inspiration Award ‘09. The theme this year is “Icons”.

James Nolan from Central Saint Martins will represent the UK at the grand final in Milan on September 23rd with his beautiful “swan” design inspired by the story of Odette and Odile. More news about the final on TLP soon!

Over a one-month period, voters of all shapes and sizes anonymously participated in the awards, which cover bras, panties and shapewear.

Now in their third year, the Undie Awards are designed to celebrate all things lingerie. In addition to encouraging voters to nominate their preferred pair for greatness, the awards also seek to educate consumers on how to best pick out underwear that is right for them.

To this end, voters in the awards were asked to “let (their) body type do the voting” by entering their age range and height and then characterizing their body type, based on – (for the women) – bra and panty sizes as well as bust, tummy and bottom type OR – (for the men) – chest, waist and leg type as well as waist size.

“Participating in the Undie Awards provides women and men with real peer-to-peer information they can use to select the right fit and style, in tops and bottoms,” said Tomima Edmark, lingerie & undergarment expert. “What’s more, the awards introduce voters to brands they might be unfamiliar with, especially via the ‘select’ winner categories, which are determined by our staff as a way of highlighting smaller brands.”

This year’s Overall Favorite Bra (Average Figure) is the Vanity Fair Body Sleeks Contour Stretch Bra 75-266. This bra is claiming highest honors for the second year in a row, due to its simple style, comfort and cleavage. One voter wrote, “hands down the most comfortable bra I’ve ever worn.” Sizes range from 32B to 42C.

The Overall Favorite Bra (Full Figure) is the Panache Superbra Tango II Underwire Balconnet Bra 3251. Women chose this stylish bra for its fit and comfort, not to mention its support. One voter wrote, “…love this bra. For my size it has THE BEST support!” Band sizes range from 30-44 and cup sizes from D-JJ.

The Overall Favorite Panty is the Olga Secret Hug Nylon Scoop Halfpant Panty 913, which features a “scoop” design with a center back seam that keeps the panties where they belong while providing natural definition. This brief wears well and is the perfect everyday panty for sizes 5-9.

For a comprehensive list of 2009 Undie Award winners, user reviews and celebrity underwear picks, please visit www.theundies.com. The Undie Awards are sponsored by online retailer HerRoom.com.

Boudiche were selected in the Retail category along with Bench, Lime Blue, Next, Superdry, Lush and Clarks Shoes. The results will be announced at a Black Tie Gala Ball on 16th April at The Midland Hotel in Manchester.

The Marketing industry were asked to choose brands in which they considered ‘cool’ across various sectors including Fashion, Leisure & Tourism, Food & Drink, Retail, Media & Digital and Manufacturing & Industrial. Readers of The Drum Magazine voted online for each category and Boudiche made the shortlist.

Other brands nominated in the ‘Cool Brand’ categories are ghd, Rockstar, Kshocolat and Paul Smith.

More info about other brands in the running etc – right here! More on Boudiche on boudiche.com!

We’ll let you know when The Undies winners are announced, but in the meantime you can go to TheUndies.com to cast your votes and earn a coupon code worth 10% off your next order. The man in your life can also vote on his favorites at the same website. Just a warning, I tried to do this in my Chrome browser and it didn’t work; I couldn’t get past the bra page. So if you use Chrome, you may want to try a different browser for this.

More on the CILA 2008 here on TLP!

Lingerie Illusions was created after two of the three founders were diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent mastectomies. Cath Stone, the third woman in the trio, was a friend of both Fiona Wright and Bernice Fletcher, supporting them during their treatments. Once the women recovered, they realized that shopping for bras was a challenging experience and they sought to change the situation for other women. Thus, Lingerie Illusions Ltd. was founded.

For a long while their products were only available in their own boutique. But ever since July, they now have their own webshop too. Check it out!

To be eligible for the Barclay’s award, UK entrepreneurs “have triumphed over personal adversity to successfully establish their own business”.

Runway Show

Photos by Matthew Coulter.

The award winning Best Coordinated features a fun and flirty pastel rainbow colorway. This festive set is accented by delightful straps with sassy little bows on the bra, playful, side-tie ribbons on the panty, and a bejeweled peace sign on the bum. The Best Fashion Couture set features a pink bra adorned with pink rosettes. The bra also features the same jewel spangled ruffles that edge the panty. These (and the other pieces in Carol’s collections) are not for the tame! Fortunately, if you are on the tame side, you have time to work up your courage to wear these pieces as they are both a part of the Spring 2009 collection (to see more from the Fall 2008 collection, click here).

Carol Malony is available at department stores and boutiques worldwide including La Petite Coquette and Isabella Fine Lingerie.