THERE is no equality when it comes to underwear modelling.

At Thursday's Triumph show, Viva La Eve, when the female models were walking down the catwalk, those seated in the audience - except the straight men - started clucking their opinions.

'Too wobbly', 'too many scars', 'too much cellulite'.

Of course after making those comments, they sucked in their stomachs.

At yesterday's Sex-y In The City show, where the models were male, those seated in the audience - except the straight men - cheered their approval.

Every flaw, frowned on in the female models, became somewhat acceptable in the men.

Wobbly? Well, it is because he has bounce.

Scars? Oooh, but isn't that just so sexy?

Obvious spray-on tan? Never mind, at least he made the effort.

Maybe that's the reason why Triumph's director Doy Teo said it is so difficult to find the right models for her shows.

To get the 20 girls, she had to audition almost 80 models.

She said: 'We need a girl with the right composition and who is totally comfortable with her body.'

Ms Teo admits not all the 20 girls were perfect.

'Some girls were perfect but with the rest, we found those as near perfect as we could.'

And not all models want to do underwear modelling.

Junita Simon - acknowledged by many as Singapore's top model - said she stays clear of them.

She said: 'I'm just not comfortable doing it.'

Even with skimpy clothes, Junita says she'll try to cover up as much as possible.

'I don't think it is cheap and I've got nothing against it, but I just do not want to do it.'

Still, Junita jumped to the models' defence when we mentioned the snarky remarks made by some of those in the audience.

She said: 'Sometimes the lighting is very unforgiving. Every little thing is magnified.'

But while attitudes towards the models are different, there is something in common.

When a model - male or female - walks down the catwalk in underwear, people want to watch.

RAIN CAN'T STOP THEM

The Triumph show was packed. Even the rain didn't stop the crowd.

And there were even more people at Sex-y. Both were held in front of NgeeAnn City.

Perhaps it was the novelty of having a male underwear show for the first time under the Singapore Fashion Festival banner.

Latecomers scrambled to get seats and usual front-row faces ended up in the nosebleed sections or in the lounge.

Some resorted to standing around the photo pit or at the stairways.

And when supermodel Marcus Schenkenberg stepped on stage in his very brief Armanis, the crowd went wild with applause.

Don't think that while attention was on the models, the collection went unnoticed.

Triumph's Isis collection was stunning.

The corset is a new emerging lingerie trend and it looks very flattering.

The deep colours of the Jezebel collection of corsets and underwear should make one feel like, well, a real Jezebel.

As for the men, the John Galiano collection of underwear and boxers are sexy and fun.

And if it makes me look as aggressively filled out as the male models did in their Galianos, I'm rushing out to buy a pair.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Apr 5, 2008.