Asia Sexiest Girls 023

Worldwide reintroduction, 1991 to 1994

"I've got a couple of those Gossard Wonderbras," said Kate Moss in an interview in the January Vanity Fair. "They are so brilliant, I swear, even I get cleavage with them."^[27]

- Kate Moss, 1994, New York Times Magazine

Around 1991, Gossard was selling the Wonderbra lines under licenses that were to expire in January 1994. At the time, the plunge style was a good seller in the UK market. Gossard planned to renew their license and had an option to do so under the existing agreement. Instead of simply renewing the agreement, Gossard executives decided to negotiate better terms with Sara Lee.

Soon after the negotiations started, something unexpected happened. In 1992, the plunge style became a hit with British women and sales took off. Between 1991 and 1993, UK sales of that Wonderbra style quadrupled to $28 million, accounting for 12.5% of the $225 million UK branded bra market. Several factors might have contributed to this boom including "an article in British Vogue on the return of the padded bra, a Vivienne Westwood-inspired fad for corsetry and that Gaultier driven yearning for underwear as outerwear."^[3] With this surge in sales, Sara Lee decided not to renew the license with Gossard.^[28]

In 1994 in the UK, the (Sara Lee) Wonderbra achieved a huge profile for its racy Hello Boys campaign. The most famous campaign poster presented model Eva Herzigová in a Wonderbra gazing down at her breasts with the caption "Hello Boys", ambiguously addressing either male admirers or her breasts.^[29] Urban myth attributed a number of car accidents to (male) drivers being distracted by the advertisements.^[30] The influential poster was featured in an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London,^[31] and it was voted in at number 10 in a "Poster of the Century" contest.^[32]

The Playtex Division of Sara Lee was given the responsibility of introducing the "The Wonderbra" style to the United States. Although the model was already being manufactured in Montreal by Canadelle, Playtex executives decided to take a year to redesign the bra for the U.S. market. They scheduled a late 1994 national launch for the bra. During this period, Gossard introduced to Americans their Ultrabra, with a design similar to the push-up Wonderbra model.^[3][27] Other competitors, including Victoria's Secret Miracle Bra quickly followed while Playtex retooled the design.

The U.S. Wonderbra rollout included events with Eva Herzigová in New York's Times Square. The advertisements were toned down in comparison to the earlier UK campaign.^[33] The U.S. print and billboard advertising showed models wearing only the Wonderbra. Underneath read slogans such as "who cares if it's a bad hair day" and "look me in the eyes and tell me that you love me."^[33] The $25 Million campaign worked in conjunction to the ongoing media interest in the bra. Although Playtex promoted the authenticity of their "One and Only Wonderbra", the rapid introduction of competitive products meant that the overall U.S. market benefited from a 43% increase in push-up bra sales by the end of 1994.^[33]

Following the 1994 relaunch, The U.S. Wonderbra has expanded from the single push-up bra design to a broader lingerie line. The brand remains popular around the world as a product, and a part of our cultural lexicon.^[34][33]

Source from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki