WHEN Hong Kong actress Tavia Yeung was going through puberty, she deliberately wore sports bras that hid her growing bosom as she was afraid men would gawk at her chest.

The TVB star, who turned 32 yesterday, has outgrown the self-consciousness, but admitted she is still conservative.

Yeung was in town over the weekend as the ambassador for lingerie brand Sorella's range of B-Lifted undergarments.

Ironically, instead of showing off the boosting effects of the bra, she kept her assets covered up in a one-piece button-down beige dress during her appearance at Nex shopping mall on Saturday afternoon.

"It isn't my intention to let everyone see my cleavage. When you wear a good bra, it shows from the outside. You'll look confident," Yeung told TheNew Paper.

The star of TVB dramas like Beyond The Realm Of Conscience and Yes, Sir, Sorry, Sir is one of four actresses tipped to become the next queen of the Hong Kong station once Charmaine Sheh leaves. It is the first time Yeung is endorsing lingerie and she said she felt brave for taking up the challenge.

Perhaps the six-figure sum she pocketed for her one-year ambassadorship helped sooth the jitters.

Confident

Judging by the catalogue photographs that show her wearing the Sorella bras with low-cut V-neck tops, she is not selling herself as a sexpot with an overflowing bosom.

Yeung, who prefers to sleep in roomy cotton homewear rather than slinky lingerie, said she wanted to look not sexy but confident and healthy in theadvertisements.

She added: "I can't be too conservative in the ads and ask to wear clothes to cover up. I have to show the public how good the bra is, so I've satisfied you by revealing a little."

Yeung said she wants to target not just women looking to dress themselves and their daughters, but also target men.

"If I have a boyfriend, I will bring him lingerie-shopping with me because men have a sharper taste. When they praise us, it makes us feel confident too," said Yeung.

"Husbands should take note of their wife's lingerie because she wears it for you."

While she hasn't found a guy to go bra-shopping with her, Yeung admitted she has received lingerie from fellow TVB actor Steven Ma.

She said: "He went to Canada to work and asked me what I would like as a gift. I told him hand or body cream would be fine.

"But instead, he bought me leopard print lingerie. He told me he doesn't know my size and to wear it for my boyfriend to see."

When asked if Ma actually got her size right, she deflected the question by saying she took one look at the piece and stashed it in her bottom drawer.

This article was first published in The New Paper.