They have names like "Goddess", "Whisper" and "Beijing beauty", but it was the design "Under Skin" that clinched it for the judges at the first-ever international Triumph Inspiration Award.

Held in Beijing on Jul 31, 2008, the event saw models showing off lots of barely-there lingerie, and a lot more bare skin as contestants from 31 countries and regions vied to be the first winner of a global competition that challenges design students to create a conceptual bra and brief showpiece.

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And inspiration came from a wide variety of sources - from fashion's ubiquitous little black dress to popular culture's celebrities and even religious icons.

Making their jobs even harder was having to convince a panel of judges that read like a list of fashion's who's who - Dutch design dup Viktor & Rolf, Danish top model Helena Christensen. German fashion photography icon Ellen von Unwerth, Colette's chief purchaser and creative directo, Sarah, top Chinese model-actress Lv Yan and Triumph's Jan Rosenberg.

The eventual winner was Midori Matsuo from Japan, with her design concept, "Under Skin".

A two-piece ensemble made to look like a crying woman, the designer said of her inspiration: "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 person' in a woman's life.

"I designed my lingerie to look like the face of a crying woman to illustrate this commonality."

She won a cash prize of Euro15,000

First and second runners-up were Germany's Theresa Bachler for her piece "Once Upon a Time" and Norway's Stine Fagervik-Rosén for her design "Desire for Beautiful Trash". They walked away with Euro10,000 and Euro5,000 each.