Latest news with #Ultimo
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Penny Lancaster swipes 'karma gets you' about new doc on the 'fall' of Michelle Mone - two decades after their dispute
Penny Lancaster swiped 'karma gets you' about the new BBC documentary on lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone. Thursday's instalment of ITV 's Loose Women saw panellists Kaye Adams, Nadia Sawalha, Penny Lancaster and Brenda Edwards sit down and discuss the day's hot topics. During the show, Kaye brought up the BBC One documentary titled The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone. The two-part series delves into the story of the high-profile businesswoman who founded lingerie brand Ultimo. Her husband's, Doug Barrowman, company PPE Medpro has come under scrutiny after it was awarded contracts worth more than £200million to provide equipment during the pandemic upon Baroness Mone's recommendation. Any wrongdoing has been denied. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Penny Lancaster swiped 'karma gets you' about the new BBC documentary on lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone as she appeared on Thursday's instalment of Loose Women Penny, who married Rod Stewart in 2007, modelled lingerie for Michelle's underwear company, Ultimo in 2002 but was axed after two years (Michelle pictured in 2019) Penny, who married Rod Stewart in 2007, modelled lingerie for Michelle's underwear company, Ultimo in 2002 but was axed after two years, the Express reported. 'So she asked you to come and model her lingerie very early on didn't she?' Kaye asked. 'And then she, without telling you, replaced you with Rachel Hunter who was Rod's wife,' Kaye added. Penny silently nodded and admitted: 'I wasn't informed of the documentary, someone told me it was coming out. 'It didn't surprise me because karma gets you, I guess, but as far as any details I'm prepared to talk about. 'It would have to be the right time and place for that and I've put it behind me for the time being.' Kaye probed, 'I get that and I totally respect it, but it must have been a difficult period of your life I presume?' Penny nodded and agreed, 'It was a very difficult time, yeah, but you know.' During the discussion, Kaye read out a quote from Rod Stewart that he said 20 years ago about the lingerie situation. She read: 'Michelle really needs to be put in her place and if this is revenge, so be it, I'm sticking up for my old lady. 'Penny doesn't want to admit it but she has been hurt by all of this, she's been in tears, Penny is a beautiful girl, I love her and I hate to see her hurt in this way. 'She did nothing wrong, put yourself in her place. How do you think she feels to be told she's being replaced by Rod's ex-wife.' Penny explained that she prefers to 'rise above it and be the better one'. A spokesperson for Michelle Mone told MailOnline: 'I am deeply disappointed by the BBC's decision to broadcast a programme using misleading and one-sided accounts of my life and career. 'I hope that the programme does not discourage young women from pursuing their ambitions. The allegations relating to my husband's company, PPE Medpro, will be defended in court.'
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone review – a thrilling dive into a life of money, models and political scandal
In the 1990s, Michelle Mone saw an opportunity. She was in her late 20s, so the story goes, on holiday with her young family in Florida, and flicking through a magazine, when she saw an advert for the 'Monique': a breast-enhancing bra insert, or what we'd now call a chicken fillet. It sounds like the unlikely start of a business empire, but what began there would ultimately grow into Ultimo, the lingerie brand established by Mone and her first husband, Michael. For a time it looked set to compete with the big guns of the underwear world. The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone is a gripping two-part documentary, which first examines how Mone rose to fame and entered the heart of the political establishment, before moving on to look at her more recent nosedive into scandal and a different sort of notoriety, in next week's episode. As Mone built her brand of bras out of a small warehouse in Glasgow, she also constructed her own legend. This is a tale of tits and assets, then, but in the way that all great BBC documentaries can be, it is also a story of culture and politics, and a broad portrait of an era, as well as a focused portrait of a person. Mone found success and fame during the late 90s, at the tail-end of Cool Britannia, in a decade still flashing the Vs of girl power, its cleavage squeezed in, up and out. By all accounts, Mone knew how to spin a yarn and put that talent to good use. Ultimo was pitched as the plucky Scottish David to the big lingerie Goliaths such as Gossard and Playtex. The documentary reports she liked to claim that Julia Roberts wore an Ultimo bra in the movie Erin Brockovich, a tale which passed into myth. The costume designer on the film denied this. Publicly, she was seen as a tough, tenacious girl-done-good in the largely male world of big business. On the surface, this is a retelling of the Michelle Mone fairytale. She grew up in poverty in Glasgow's East End and left school at 15 with no qualifications. She grafted her way into the business world, working her way up from selling fruit and veg, via a modelling career and eventually landing on lingerie. The documentary is detailed enough that it tracks down a childhood friend and a modelling colleague, as well as talking to former contacts and advisers. It even interviews Selfridges' lingerie buyer in the late 90s, Virginia Marcolin, who gives a convincing account of the persistent woman she met back then, who was determined to get her product into one of the biggest department stores in the UK. You can see what people saw in Mone. Quite literally, in fact. There is lots of footage from that time, as she was keen on having cameras around to document her rags to riches story, and to keep the brand, and herself, in the public eye. There are ample clips of her launching the Ultimo bra, trying to expand into Australia, and her then-new house, in which her first marriage was beginning to show signs of trouble. She talked about that, too, on TV, on chatshows, on panels. She became a celebrity, and in Ultimo's careful choice of models, sometimes famous themselves, the brand fed the celebrity machine. It was a successful ecosystem of notoriety, but whether it was as successful a business as it appeared is one of the many questions asked here. In some ways, this is a parable of fame. Mone courted it and won it, but eventually learned that once you turn on the faucet of public attention, trying to turn it off again is a sisyphean task. Even as the Ultimo launch succeeds, there are hints of choppy waters under the smooth public image. The documentary makers question Mone's relationship with the truth and say that of the more than 50 people who worked for Ultimo they approached, none would speak on camera, and those who did, gave less-than-flattering accounts of the workplace and asked for their identities to be hidden. Now, Mone is perhaps less famous for her business acumen than she is for her involvement in the lucrative 'VIP lane' PPE scandal with her husband, Doug Barrowman, which was brought to public attention by a Guardian investigation (both deny any wrongdoing and have never been arrested or charged, though do stay for the legal notes at the end of episode two, which are unusually entertaining). It builds towards their notorious interview with Laura Kuenssberg, at the end of 2023, and the second episode is a great success as an investigative thriller, carefully laying out the claims that have been made against them. But this also works as a cultural artefact, and surely Mone, of all people, would appreciate that the story makes very good television. The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone aired on BBC Two and is on iPlayer now.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Michelle Mone's spectacular fall from bra baroness to most hated businesswoman
Baroness Mone of Mayfair has an inspiring rags to riches story, but the self-made millionaire was also the architect of her own demise which left her reputation in tatters and her empire in ruins She was once hailed as a working-class heroine who built an underwear empire from scratch to become a self-made millionaire. But how times have changed. Once hailed as Britain's most successful businesswoman, whose rags-to-riches story even won her a peerage, she is now a pariah who is placed among the ranks of the country's most hated women. With her reputation in tatters, Baroness Mone of Mayfair has lost the Tory whip, is on leave from the House of Lords, and a business connected to her is under investigation by the National Crime Agency. Once the subject of gushing TV reports and newspaper stories, she is now the subject of a BBC documentary on her downfall, which concluded tonight. So, where did it all go wrong? It's a dizzying fall from grace for the self-styled entrepreneur from Glasgow's East End who smashed every glass ceiling and rose to be worth an estimated £20 million. Many, however, would say her demise is as much her own making as her success was. Born in 1971 and raised in a two-bedroom flat, Mone left school at 15 to support her family. She worked as a model and in marketing before launching what would become her multimillion-pound lingerie brand: Ultimo. She and husband Michael remortgaged their house and went £70,000 into debt to develop the idea to create a cleavage-enhancing bra that was both sexy and supportive - but it paid off. The bra captured the imagination of shoppers and the headlines alike. By the early 2000s, Mone was a regular fixture on TV and in newspapers. Jack Irvine, former newspaper editor, remembers how keen she was for the limelight. 'She had two driving forces. One was to be very rich and one was to be very famous,' he said. Media savvy Mone knew how to create headlines. One story was that her bra was used in the film Erin Brockovich, and that she had given star Julia Roberts cleavage. Another newspaper editor, Magnus Llewellin, said: "If you actually bother to check, somebody involved in the actual making of the film came out and said an Ultimo bra wasn't used in the production." But behind the scenes, cracks were already showing. Reports of toxic working environments and public spats with former staff began to surface, and there were a number of employment tribunals, including one high-profile case in which a member of staff found a recording device in his office. Ultimo had also been struggling and in 2014, Mone sold her majority stake and severed ties with the company altogether two years later. Then came the move into politics. In 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron made her his government's "entrepreneurship tsar' and weeks later it was announced she was to become a Conservative peer, as Baroness Mone of Mayfair - a title as glossy as her public image. The Covid pandemic, however, would embroil her in a scandal from which she couldn't redeem herself. As PPE contracts were handed out by the Tory government, Baroness Mone was revealed to have secretly lobbied ministers on behalf of PPE Medpro, a company that made it onto the VIP list and secured over £200 million in government contracts to supply medical equipment. Initially, Mone denied any involvement. But in late 2022, the truth began to unravel. The BBC and The Guardian reported she and her children had secretly received tens of millions in profits from the PPE contracts. The House of Lords website was quietly scrubbed of her name, and Mone took a leave of absence from her role. Then, in 2023, came the dramatic confession. In a jaw-dropping TV interview, she admitted she had lied about her role in PPE Medpro, claiming she did it to protect her family. 'I made a mistake,' she said. 'I was just trying to help during a crisis.' But by then, public opinion had turned. The woman once seen as a self-made success story was now viewed as emblematic of cronyism and privilege at its most shameless. While legal proceedings are ongoing and no charges have been brought, the damage to Mone's public image is hard to undo. She now faces a civil recovery claim from the government, and questions remain over how deeply she and her husband were involved. Today, Michelle Mone is a peer in name only - absent from the red benches and persona non grata among her former allies. Her empire is gone, her honour is in question, and - like her famous lingerie - there's little support left.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone, review: a portrait of how far shamelessness will get you
Depending on your point of view, The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone (BBC Two) was either delicious schadenfreude or a vicious character assassination. Erica Jenkin's two-part documentary series was clear on where it fell on the lingerie entrepreneur turned Conservative peer – that Baroness Mone of Mayfair is a chancer, a Wonderbra Walter Mitty, a vainglorious cad whose success and morality is like the product that made her famous, all front. Yet Mone's supporters – and following the PPE scandal there can't be too many of those left – would suggest that the programme exaggerates its own assets. The first episode does a nice job of explaining where Mone came from – the girl from the unforgiving East End of Glasgow, forced to earn money for her family from the age of 10, who dropped out of school at 15 and was written off by her teachers. It is impossible not to be impressed by Mone, in her 20s and heavily pregnant with her third child, turning up at Selfridges in London and demanding that they stock her underwear. She'd convinced her husband to remortgage. 'I was either going to lose my house today or keep my house,' she said at the time. It was a shot at the moon. Nobody could fail to warm to this plain-speaking young woman from Glasgow, grasping the lads' mag/girl power energy of the 1990s and wedging herself into a male-dominated industry. A knack for PR – learnt from her days as a model and ring girl – helped to supply a steady stream of publicity for her company, Ultimo, and its enhancing bras. Yet the film dropped tantalising breadcrumbs – the brusque way she dealt with employees, the over-eagerness for publicity, the do-anything attitude. Perhaps too much was made of the Erin Brockovich lie – Mone repeatedly and falsely claimed that Julia Roberts's eye-catching cleavage in the Oscar-winning movie was thanks to Ultimo – but it showed Mone's devil's-bargain with the truth. Whatever it took, she'd succeed. Just watching Mone's physical appearance change as she grew more successful is fascinating – with every passing year, she appears more lacquered. By the second episode and Mone's PPE untruths – along with her husband Doug Barrowman, that she had nothing to do with Medpro PPE Ltd – it's clear the series has her pegged as a rogue. On this evidence, who could argue? Some of the accusations may not be slam-dunks, but they paint an unpleasant picture – the employment tribunals, the aggressive hounding of any journalist who asked questions, the obfuscation around PPE and the 'VIP lanes'. Others, however, feel mean-spirited. So what if she gilded her youthful admiration of Steve Wozniak when the Apple founder joined her cryptocurrency venture? The programme, smirking, points out that her autobiography never mentions Wozniak, but does mention Sylvester Stallone four times. Most damning, however, is the brouhaha that occurred when David Cameron made Mone a peer. 'She is a small-time businesswoman with a PR exposure far in excess of any actual success,' said businessman Douglas Anderson. Ultimo's accounts around 2011-2012, when Mone was constantly touted in the media as 'Britain's most successful female entrepreneur', back up Anderson's statement. Her success, if not a mirage, was vastly inflated. 'She is completely shameless,' said another contributor, 'and if you have no shame, you can get quite far.' The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone is available now on BBC iPlayer and airs on BBC Two at 9pm on Wednesday 28 May
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
New doc on TV tonight explores the boom and bust of lingerie queen Michelle Mone
It was the ultimate rags to riches tale - but now Michelle Mone is fighting serious allegations. A new BBC documentary investigates A millionaire lingerie entrepreneur and a Baroness in the House of Lords, Michelle Mone had everything going for her but is now embroiled in a shocking PPE scandal. This two-part documentary, The Rise And Fall Of Michelle Mone, on BBC2 at 9pm tonight (May 28), tells the extraordinary story of Baroness Mone of Mayfair, charting her rise and fall. It began as the ultimate rags to riches tale, as Michelle rose from the poverty-stricken East End of Glasgow to the upper echelons of the British establishment and one of Britain's most successful businesswomen. But she is now trying to clear her name of allegations about her role in a lucrative Government contract to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, that made millions from the taxpayer. Former colleagues, advisors and journalists wade in to give their view, having witnessed the boom and bust up-close. This first episode focuses on her early life, her breakthrough into business after leaving school at 15 without any qualifications, and how she established herself as a celebrity entrepreneur. She worked in a fruit shop, as a model and as a boxing ring girl before creating the lingerie company MJM and the push-up bra Ultimo. In the cleavage-obsessed age of the iconic 'Hello Boys' Wonderbra advert in the 1990s, Michelle managed to get her new bra into department stores like Selfridges and the business also got a push up. We get the inside track on her whirlwind success and the pressures that arose in the company and also in her home life. The cracks were already starting to show, but is she a villain or a victim? *The Rise And Fall Of Michelle Mone is on BBC2 tonight (Wednesday 28 May) at 9pm There's plenty more on TV tonight - here's the best of the rest.. BRITAIN'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSES, CHANNEL 4, 9pm Super prime property, eye-watering price tags, jaw-dropping interiors - this is a peek at how the uber-rich live. As this series continues, real estate agent Mark Coulter is selling a £3.5 million Baronial-style castle in West Lothian, near Edinburgh. The 19th-century castle, set in 15 acres of countryside, has recently been transformed with no expense spared, and has its own panic room, cinema and equestrian centre. Keen to promote this showpiece, Mark invites property journalist Kirsty McLuckie to stay, hoping that a glowing review will attract buyers. 'I hope I don't break anything,' says Kirsty. Fine & Country's managing director Nicky Stevenson is visiting Jersey's most exclusive properties with top broker Margaret Thompson. They need to find a buyer for £21 million Cardington House - a mega mansion by the beach. And on the Cornish coast, agent Ian Lillicrap has listed St Dellan's, a five-bed cottage with 11 acres and stunning coastal views - a snip at £3 million. RACE ACROSS THE WORLD, BBC1, 9pm It's getting tense. Four teams have travelled almost 10,000km to the fifth checkpoint, McLeod Ganj in India, but there's no time to rest in the Buddhist hill town. They have to get to Sasan Gir, 1,900 kilometres south, in the western state of Gujarat, one of the most unique villages in India. Sasan Gir provides a gateway to Gir National Park. Rich with diverse flora and fauna, the forest is the last remaining habitat for the mighty Asiatic lion. The endangered lions, now fewer than 600, roam freely in the wild and sometimes even venture into the local neighbourhoods. To get there, the teams must navigate four of India's western states, including the largest, Rajasthan. Travelling east offers a popular tourist route through the famed 'blue, pink and white cities' of Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur. Or they could veer west for a chance to explore the Great Indian Desert, a vast area of 200,000 square kilometres - but transport options are limited. And after Sioned and Fin made a big mistake last week, sending them into last place, they will have a lot of catching up to do. EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm Just as Aaron and John are about to wed, Aaron backs out, claiming that he doesn't trust John. But phew, it's another dream. Snapping back to reality in the hospital car park, John watches Aaron drive away from him. Through his phone app, Lewis speaks to a trapped Mackenzie and Ross confesses to orchestrating the robbery. Billy thinks Dawn and the kids should move out of Home Farm to get away from Joe. Jacob tries to comfort Sarah about her diagnosis. EASTENDERS, BBC1, 7.30pm After a car veered off the road and into a lake, the survivors scramble bankside to try to save those trapped in the vehicle. As news of events reaches Walford, Vicki takes matters into her own hands and heads to No.1 to reveal a bombshell. Avani asks Barney if he wants to go back to her house, but is angry when he gets the wrong end of the stick and storms off. Ravi spots the run-in and gives Barney some advice. CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm Lisa tells Kit that Bernie has provided Brody with an alibi. A fuming Kit collars Bernie and points out he now has two options - either tell Lisa that he was mistaken or charge her with perverting the course of justice. Fiona tells Ronnie she's got a job for him which involves selling on a stolen car. George confides in Todd how no matter how hard he tries, everything he does seems to annoy Eileen these days. Maria tells Lou she's fired.
