Triumph Inspiration Award: Pooja Upadhyay is India winner

Triumph, one of the world’s premier lingerie brands, has announced Pooja Upadhyay, 20, TY design student of NIFT as the India winner of the Triumph Inspiration Award 2012. The national final judged by an esteemed panel that included fashionistas

like Anna Singh, Anupama Verma, Vikram Bawa, Nisha Jamwal and Anchal Kumar saw some innovative and creative designs showcased by students from various fashion schools and institutes.

Commenting on the Triumph Inspiration Award 2012, Head of Sales & Marketing for India & Sri Lanka, Triumph, Shailendra Fernando said, “Once we pick the local winner, Triumph India will coach and prep her to compete in the global contest. The winner will then fly to Shanghai with her creation and take part in a runway show where representatives from each of the local contests will showcase their creations to a jury comprising of international fashion experts. The winner of the global contest will receive a cash prize and the opportunity to work with Triumph's global design team to commercialize his/her concept which then would be retailed across the world in select Triumph exclusive stores.”

The style showcased was Butterfly & Dragons – a very popular Chinese legend. The concept was based on it and every designer had gave their own interpretation of the theme. Upadhyay’s interpretation was duality – how the hard and soft elements combine together to form one beautiful story. Since the USP of India is surface development, her design had a lot of surface development too. She used fabrics that could complement her theme, like suede and chiffon and elements like the dragon wing. Her design was asymmetric. It had one shoulder and was a one-piece garment joined at the side seams. The colours were suede in deep maroon and chiffon in light purple to go with the strong and the soft elements. The purple had a colour gradation from maroon going to purple. She dyed the fabric herself and created a very minute detailing on chiffon so that it added a lot of depth.

As the winner she will represent India at Triumph Inspiration Award 2012 International Final in Shanghai in the month of October. The winning international design will be manufactured and will be part of a limited edition that will be retailed through select Triumph outlets across the world. Fernando says each year the winning creation of the TIA contest is commercialized and added to Triumph’s commercial range as a special limited quantity novelty. “It will be retailed across the globe and the packaging material will contain description of the contest, design and designer.” Gaurang Dangwal, was the second runner-up. Gaurang’s concept was 117 scales which are on the body of a Chinese dragon and that protect the dragon.

The event also saw Triumph presenting its much awaited animal print collection ‘Wild & Sexy’ for the first time in India. The eclectic collection which is with colors and smooth fit is playful, sexy and is every woman’s delight. One of the highlights of the collection is the T-shirt bra range made with a special and sensitive fabric whereby Triumph is committed to saving one square meter of rainforest for every one meter of fabric used.

Triumph International is one of the world's largest underwear manufacturers. The company enjoys a presence in over 120 countries with its core brands Triumph, sloggi, Valisère and HOM.