The cup runneth over

A  midst all the grim tidings on the global economic front and stock market crashes, the proceedings at an international symposium on intimate apparel last week in Hong Kong brought some cheery — or should I say ‘robust’ — news.

According to researchers who had gathered from all over the world to discuss such soul-elevating subjects as the shapes and designs of women’s innerwear, the breast sizes of women  the world over have been growing  over the years.

It turns out that women in North America and Europe have over the past 20 years or so grown particularly busty: their average breast size has expanded from 34B to 36D.

Well might their breasts swell with pride at this distinction, although researchers reckon this is more a case of increasing evidence of obesity.

Asian women too have seen a general enhancement in their profile, but not nearly by the same extent. In their case, better nutritional intake might account for the additional layers of mammary muscle.

Some Hong Kong-based manufacturers of intimate apparel that are sold in mainland China have seen sales of their A-cup bras shrink in recent years, and have in fact discontinued this line. Simultaneously, innerwear with bigger cup sizes has done rather well.

Well, I don’t know what I find more interesting: the fact that women’s breast sizes have growing bigger over the years, or that there appears to be an entire army of researchers tracking every incremental progress on this front. 

How do you know that gold prices have peaked? When a Hong Kong jeweller, who had installed a golden toilet in what was inarguably the world’s most expensive washroom, begins to sell his — ahem — “Golden Throne.” 

Lam Sai-wing had created his lavish loo after being inspired by learning as a young boy that Communist leader Vladimir Lenin had dreamt of making golden toilets for the Russian proletariat.

As the owner of a chain of jewellery stores in Hong Kong, he realised that dream in 2001. Lam’s $4.9 million washroom —  complete with a golden toilet, gold wash basins, toilet brushes, toilet paper holders, and gold doors — became a ‘must-see’ destination on Hong Kong’s tourist itinerary.   

In 2005, however, it was taken off the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s list of tourist attractions after it became a little to popular, and got in the way of Lam’s jewellery business. Early in January, with gold prices at a high, Lam’s holding company said it was selling one tonne of gold from its ‘display items.’