The future and the past

The Future...

• Marlies Dekkers' Racy Runway Show

I found this at StyleList.com blog while looking for a futuristic calendar girl for my 2009 hardcopy journal.

"This" is a 5 shot gallery of lingerie for Spring 2009 (maybe? there is no date listed; so, I'm probably guessing wrong--again).

If this is the future of lingerie, then dessous-dessous trends will continue--at least for those who live where swimwear is worn routinely. Not in my town. So, we'll continue to be "behind the times" for a few more years.

I do like the eye tattoo. This may be a future look.

• FASHION designer Kimberly Lim submitted an entry in July 2008 for the Triumph design contest. "Ms Lim said she had never designed lingerie before so decided to have fun, drawing on her love of metallics, graphics and gaming culture.“I love streetwear,” she said. “With lingerie, it’s all traditional like lace and beads and that’s not what I’m used to doing at all.”She substituted studs for beads, abandoned lace in favour of capacitors and added a futuristic twist to the basic entry requirements of a bra and brief set." (This entry may go into the journal.)
  

Lingerie Perspectives:

• a list of articles featuring lingerie from Salon.com. Not entirely sure why I posted this list, except that it does cover how women view underwear. There is an article about Egyptian styles, one describing a long gone museum installation, and other talk by women about their undies.

• I added The "Petite Coquette" thread lingerie blog to the blogroll. She specializes in luxe & sexy.

And The Past...
1930s Futuristic Fashion Predictions includes a youtube video predicting what women will wear in 2000.

notes

this post contains some loosely related material that needs to be tied together later--I'm going to plant flowers & mow very soon. The Triumph material updates an earlier post that can be linked in here also.

The Undie Award

The Undie Award gives customers a chance to vote for their favorite underwear & to see what real people find comfortable.

eco-fabrics:

"A company in Sri Lanka who manufacture underwear for Marks & Spencer (M&S) claim to have the first carbon-neutral clothes factory in the world."

MAS Holdings, who also produce lacy lingerie for the likes of Victoria’s Secret in the US, have an “eco-factory” which is 90% powered by hydro-power and 10% by solar panels. The site uses 40% less energy than a similar sized factory using regular power sources. Windows are designed to allow staff to work by natural light while “eco-bricks”, designed to keep the building cool, cuts the need to power air-conditioning units in the humid climes of the South Asian nation.

In addition, sweat-shop conditions or child labour, thought synonymous with some larger manufacturers, won’t be witnessed here. The company brands itself by its ethical ambitions. It says: “MAS was doing the right thing before CSR became a corporate buzzword”.

Get your green pants here from the Economist.com's May 29th 2008 edition is a look inside the factory.
Triumph bra design contest:

Divyanka Bedi has beaten two dozen aspirants at a show held recently [Triumph Inspiration Award (India) for her lingerie design] For her award winning lingerie, Divyanka used bright emerald greens, plum reds, and lime greens with exotic motifs such as ivy leaf and poison lips. The collection focussed on seduction and dark fantasies and was projected for a women who believe in being assertive and sexy yet classy and flamboyant.

• "The contest required us to design an under wired bra and brief set inspired by our opinions of female fascination."

• "How much is creativity a criterion while designing lingerie?

When you have less than half a metre of fabric to work with, to design something that has to be worn under another garment, all the while performing the function of providing support and comfort and yet look different from everything else in the market, one requires a lot of creativity to execute that."

Triumph Inspiration Award Malaysia National Finals ‘08 photos by Michael Yip.

Photos from Triumph International's Japan Inspiration Award 2008 (26th May) that are in line with the whimsical fashions of previous years.

Triumph Inspiration Award 2008 website. The site presents a company history and advertising videos from yesteryear. There is a historical overview of lingerie fashion with a section on Chinese underwear.

Plus Size Bras:
Salon.com's Kate Harding's 30 May 2008 post led me to Ashley Stewart's Butterfly collection brings sexy fashion to plus size lingerie. Some coverage of the premier runway event can be found at Sharon Quinn's blog.

Harding's column also mentioned the profession of Dr. Joanna Scurr, a leading authority on sports-related breast movement. Apparently in demand from makers of sports bras.

Bra Fun:
Triumph International Theme Undies posted on Japundit.

A slightly different version of the bizarre bra gallery from November 14th, 2007 by Steve Levenstein

Triumph International Japan's latest bra concept is the environmentally friendly, and green colored, "Solar Power Bra" featuring a solar panel worn around the stomach. While the concept promotes alternative energy production, "the panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, said Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda, as 'people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it.'"

Triumph International's Annual Eco-Design Contest

Triumph International is a United Kingdom based lingerie house with a green focus. They also promote student innovation. A vehicle for both is the Triumph Inspiration Award. In this competition, select schools challenge students to create a unique product design promoting environmental awareness. " The winning designer, judged by experts in the field of design, fashion and the media, at the final held in July 2008 at Bejing, would bag a cash prize of Euro 15,000 and get a chance to sell the product in select stores worldwide."
The collection includes:

• "My Hashi bra" (my chopsticks bra), features a pair of foldable recycled chopsticks that can be stashed in the sides of the bra and removed to eat a meal of rice and soup or while eating out. "The product comes with removable, traditional cases on the shoulder straps and a detachable 'chopstick rest at the centre of the bra that is made of paper recycled from wooden chopsticks. The idea is to highlight the need to reduce waste and establish a recycling -based society".
• The 'No More Plastic Bags' bra can contains folded-up reusable shopping bags within the bra cups, made from recycled polyester fibre. "When worn the folded shopping bags act as padding and they can be removed and unfolded to be used for shopping!," claims the company. "The left and right parts are then clasped using fasteners and attached to the bulk of the bra using hooks. The shoulder straps are then tied onto the top of the bag as ribbons and the lace used on the cup area functions as an attractive and stylish feature on this cute shopping bag, it adds.
• Recycle PET' created from recycled bottles
• the Warm Biz bra introduced last year again in Japan in a bid to reduce energy consumption during winter. The bra can be heated up in a standard microwave, and contains a heat-retaining gel.
• The Eco globe bra, on the other hand, uses fabrics that biodegrade into compost and revert to the soil. "The turquoise-blue material used is an eco material based on corn and designed to biodegrade via the activity of micro-organisms and change into compost over several years and revert to soil. it maintains low-combustible energy when burnt and does not emit harmful gases," says a company official.