Whirlwind of excitement at Ultimo HQ

With so much going on at Ultimo HQ – the last couple of months have been a total whirlwind of excitement!

The team was in Canada shooting our incredible new Face & Body Luisana Lopilato – Michael Buble’s wife – who we unveiled in our fabulous Ultimo Miracle collection www.ultimo.co.uk who has been an amazing success and is our biggest international signing yet, following in the footsteps of previous campaign models including Mel B, Sarah Harding and Helena Christensen.

Ultimo’s new Face & and Body Luisana Lopilato wears Ultimo Miracle Black OMG Bra £25

Then we launched the brand new Bra Queen label as part of an exclusive major partnership deal with Tesco – with Amy Childs revealed as the face of the brand. When you’re getting your shopping next time you’ll go and have a look – there are some gorgeous pieces and different designs for every taste from girly and elegant to animal print and black lace – from £7 it’s definitely worth putting some lingerie treats in the trolley beside your veggies.

Find your nearest store visit www.braqueenmichelle.co.uk or go to www.tesco.com/clothing

Meanwhile, aside from these two major launches, we are preparing to launch an amazing new Ultimo Beauty range for next year – which will lead on to perfume and tan. It’s a massive step in a new direction for the future of the company and we can’t wait to tell you more nearer the time but all we can say is you’re going to love it – start making space on your dressing table!

It has been a really crazy, emotional, challenging and quite unbelievable journey that Michelle re-lived for a BBC2 documentary with Peter Jones. In “How We Made Our Millions” – which was aired on Wednesday 9^th November, the Dragon’s Den mogul followed Michelle for five months to make the fly-on-the-wall insight into how the story began and some secrets of the brand’s success.

Peter goes all the way back to the beginning of it all – Michelle’s childhood in a one-bedroom tenement flat in Glasgow’s East End.

She said: “I was a bit nervous about being filmed in a documentary style and at six foot seven it wasn’t easy to forget that Peter was following me around.

“But I ended up feeling quite relaxed and I opened up to him about all the trials and tribulations of growing up, my younger brother dying from spina bifida when I was eight, and my dad becoming ill at the age of 38.

“I talked to him about starting off working at the age of 10 doing a paper round and leaving school at 15 with very little qualifications, and being a mother and all the highs and lows of the last 14 years since Ultimo started – all our celebs and secrets.

“I was in tears because it unlocked a lot of heartache, but on the other hand opening up about it like that was also quite cathartic.

“I also discovered that I could have some form of OCD and always have to arrange my lingerie according to colour.

“It’s amazing how someone following you around makes you aware of things you do.”

You can watch it here on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0175q02/Peter_Jones_How_We_Made_Our_Millions/

The countdown is on to our new range launches – get a sneaky preview at http://www.ultimo.co.uk/shop/fashion

Don’t miss out on all our upcoming competitions, giveaways and special offers in the run up to the festive season – like Ultimo on facebook

www.facebook.com/pages/Ultimo/256959752075

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Michelle Mone OBE on a mission to find 24 ‘Real Women’ to pose in Ultimo Undies!

Michelle Mone OBE is on a mission to challenge today’s image-obsessed society by putting 24 ‘real women’ in her forthcoming lingerie campaign! Michelle has launched her hunt today, Sunday 7 November, and is calling on women ‘of all ages (over 18), shapes, sizes and backgrounds’ to apply.

The 24 lucky ladies who make the cut will be taken to London for a full-scale fashion shoot with the Ultimo ‘glam team’, including photographer Dan Kennedy – who shot Ultimo models Mel B, Sarah Harding and Rachel Hunter – hair and make-up artists, stylist and lighting experts. The winners will also walk away with 6 months worth of Ultimo lingerie.

Michelle, 38, who bravely stripped off for her own lingerie shoot last month, said;

“Celebrating our customers by putting them in one of our campaigns is a bold move, but it feels right and I’m so excited about it. Over the years Ultimo has become synonymous with celebrity campaigns, but our product is designed specifically for real women, so this is 100% the right thing to do and I can confirm that we won’t be appointing a celebrity this season, which is a first for us in our ten year history!

“Fashion can be very cyclical, but more and more we’re seeing ‘real’ women appearing in campaigns and on the catwalk and I really hope it’s a trend that is going to stay. I’m just happy to be doing my bit for real women and can’t wait to announce our 24 lucky winners.”

Michelle’s firm ran a similar campaign earlier in the year for the Ultimo Couture womenswear collection, but this is the first time real women will be used to model Ultimo lingerie, which is available from Debenhams stores in sizes up to a G cup. Previous models for the brand have included Kelly Brook, Mel B, Sarah Harding and Helena Christensen.

Michelle added;

“While I think it’s wonderful to celebrate the curvier woman, I think you also have to balance the fact that there’s a lot of women out there on the smaller side too who are just as ‘real’ and healthy, so we’re looking for women who are anything from a size 6 through to a size 20. We’re also specifically looking for women who really deserve some pampering and to be spoilt for the day.”

Women can apply now online via the Ultimo website, so log on now for your chance to be an Utimo model!