[...]... University of Leeds, and currently the Textile and Apparel Development Manager of Media Innovations Ltd His far-sighted advice on our current research into intimate apparel and his continuous support, prompt responses and professional editing of all the chapters is highly appreciated Sincere gratitude is conveyed to Miss Susanna Ng, Research Administration Assistant at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing,... excellent assistance in obtaining copyright permission for the use of figures, formatting the manuscript and preparation of the index In particular, we thank Miss Cheryl Chin and Mrs Nirosha Witana, both part-time Research Administration Assistants at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for collecting literature on the innovation of intimate apparel We also thank... drawing the figures, and Miss Carmela Wong, Administrative Assistant at the Institute of Textiles and Clothing for scanning and touching up of the figures We wish to express heartfelt thanks to Dr Andrew Sia, Founding Chairman of the ‘Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association’ (HKIAIA) and CEO of the ACE Style Group, for his generous donation to the establishment of Asia’s first ‘Institute of. .. technologists, designers and engineers in the industry in their future product development and innovation Winnie Yu Jintu Fan Simon Harlock Sun-pui Ng xi Acknowledgements We are very grateful for the support and encouragement of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing and those colleagues and students who have contributed both directly and indirectly towards the publication of this book Most importantly,... bodies Clothing played an important role in enhancing the perceived body image and body attractiveness Among all types of clothing, intimate apparel, being a nextto-skin item, should act to help the wearer to beautify her figure Women believe that when they wear beautiful lingerie, they walk differently and feel sexier, so in fact, intimate apparel represents society’s ideal of beauty and femininity 1.7... ‘Institute of Intimate Apparel in our university The new institute has provided good resources for our writing of this book Indeed we are grateful to Mr David Morris, Principal Lecturer at the De Montfort University for his kind encouragement and expert training on the topics of bra sizing and pattern drafting Special thanks are given to Dr Andrew Sia, Mr Yau-kwan So and Mr Notes Luk for checking over... illustrates the definitions of the above-mentioned measurements 1.4.3 Golden ratio of women’s torso In order to incorporate the concepts of beauty into intimate apparel design, the Human Science Research Center of Wacoal [132] has been observing individual women for over 40 years Based on their research findings, Wacoal has developed several indices of beauty including ‘Golden Proportions’ in 1955, ‘Beautiful... chapter describes the innovations used in the manufacture of intimate apparel introduced in recent years with particular emphasis on the application of seamless knitting technology that is leading a new direction in the development of intimate apparel Although this book is principally a research monograph, it is useful not only for academia but also provides a sound theoretical basis and practical reference... Preface technology behind each innovation Although a bra is the most complex item of intimate apparel, there is a notable absence of literature regarding bra pattern and fitting technology Chapter 4 compares the documented guidelines of bra pattern development with theories on the mathematical relationship between pattern parameters and body measurements; 2D direct drafting methods, 3D modelling and CAD... understand the beauty concept and its influence on the design of intimate apparel Fan, Yu and Hunter [4] have recently published a monograph Clothing Appearance and Fit that reviewed various studies of body beauty with respect to general clothing This chapter will firstly investigate the factors influencing women’s body beauty with respect to intimate apparel Secondly, it will review the modern definition . 55 3 Innovations of bras 59 W YU and S-P NG 3.1 Definition of innovation 59 3.2 A brief history of bra invention and innovation 59 3.3 Bra innovations in the 21st century 64 3.4 Technology behind. review and critical assessment of progress in the scientific understanding and technological innovations in the field of ladies’ intimate apparel. The book comprises ten chapters related to intimate. engineering of textiles and clothing addresses the issues of designing and producing textiles and clothing for optimum interaction with the body. It covers fundamental theories, principles and