Anna Chapman: Failed Russian spy is now a business guru after lingerie modelling

By
Simon Tomlinson

Last updated at 3:34 PM on 15th November 2011

Given her spectacular failure as a spy, her limited success in politics and her ensuing plagiarism scandal, you might not think Anna Chapman was quite suited to be a business guru.

But at least credit her persistence.

In the latest attempt to cash in on her celebrity, the 29-year-old Russian beauty is carving out yet another new career – this time giving masterclasses on how to succeed in business.

Drawing on a new career: Russian spy-turned-lingerie model Anna Chapman gives a masterclass on business success at the International iCamp Kazan 2011 forum in Kazan last week

Dressed in a black polo neck top, she held a session at an IT conference in Kazan last Friday for entrepreneurs who had paid £40 to attend the event.

According to local media, she frequently quoted the late Apple boss Steve Jobs and claimed her secret was to ‘be positive’.

‘My formula for success is to be active and do something that is socially useful,’ she was quoted as saying.

‘The main thing is not profit, but belief and the dream that gets us out of bed every day.’

Positivity: The 29-year-old, pictured at the conference, believes the secret to success is having a dream that gets you out of bed each morning

Footage of the event showed her piloting a virtual yacht on a simulator and scribbling on a whiteboard with a black pen, it was reported in The Daily Telegraph.

Chapman has been doing her best to remain in the public eye ever since her deportation from the United States in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.

She was among nine Russians who took civilian jobs in a bid to burrow deep into U.S. society and cultivate contacts with academics, entrepreneurs and government policymakers.

They were famously unsuccessful when it came to the actual business of spying, although the FBI has claimed they were a threat.

Chapman, who set up an online property search engine as cover, has since turned her hand to modelling, politics and journalism.

But she has recently found herself at the center of a plagiarism scandal after prominent bloggers accused her of ‘copy-pasting’ from a book by a Kremlin spin doctor.

It was reported that her column in the best-selling Komsomolskaya Pravda daily was an almost word-for-word copy of an article in a book by Oleg Matveyechev.

And in recent months, a Kremlin-backed campaign to promote the redhead as a patriotic pin-up appears to have stalled.

She was not selected to become a parliamentary candidate for Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party.

She was also heckled in September by students at a St Petersburg university who said they learned nothing from her.

Model behaviour: Chapman watching (left) and taking part in (right) fashion parades in Russia after living a celebrity lifestyle since being deported from the U.S. for attempting to spy on academics, entrepreneurs and policymakers

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What a Triumph! Lingerie brand celebrates 125 years of the bra with vintage …

By
Deborah Arthurs

Last updated at 3:18 PM on 15th November 2011

More than century ago in 1886, merchant Michael Braun and corset-maker Johann Gottfried Spiesshofer went down in history after becoming the first firm in the world to make a bra commercially available to women.

Never could they have known back then that the tiny corset factory they had set up in southern Germany would one day become the world’s leading lingerie firm. 

125 years on, the business that started out with just six sewing machines and six employees has gone global, with 37,500 employees working in over 120 countries – and it is still in the hands of the families of its founders.

Celebration: Triumph – the firm behind the first bra commercially available to women – has launched the Vintage Collection to bring revamped Triumph designs into the present day

Of course, the 1886 effort from the
two was a primitive affair – a rigid wire cages that held the breasts in
places, prosaically named the Bust Improver. The only concession to
vanity was the addition of two bows tied onto each cup.

Fast
forward 125 years, and much has changed. This month, Triumph
International is to commemorate their long history tailoring the female
form with a limited edition collection of vintage-inspired corsets, bras
and knickers that celebrate the nipped-in waists and high-waisted
styling of the past.

But while the styling is all vintage, the comfort is as contemporary as it comes.

The collection offers pieces that marry
both the best-loved heritage styles for which Triumph is famed, coupled
with the cutting edge fabrics and fit technology that makes today’s
lingerie infinitely more comfortable than the whalebone garments of old.

History: The collection features lingerie in Vintage Lace, Vintage Touch and black and white Fifties-inspired Vintage Corsage

Very modern vintage: Triumph’s Vintage Collection celebrates retro styling married with modern technology. Left, lace body dress, £109; right, pink corset, £101

Vintage with a twist: The lingerie echoes shapes of the past but is much more comfortable to wear. Left, high-waisted briefs and bra, both £63

Wasp-waisters and corsets feature heavily in the line, all inspired by the long heritage of Triumph International. Left, waist-slimmer, £74; floral corset, £93

A TRIUMPH THROUGH THE AGES

1886: The very first bra invented by Triumph was called the Bust Improver

1965: A very retro Triumph International shoot in Hyde Park

1980: Model Amanda Adey wears a cut-out swimsuit by Triumph International for an eighties photocall

1983: Model Jane Sumner pictured in a 1983 Triumph International swimwear advert

1987: Triumph’s Bijou lingerie set is modelled by a curvy brunette, proving that by today’s standards 

2006: A Triumph fashion show held in Dusseldorf, Germany

2007: Louise Redknapp is unveiled as the new face of Triumph

2011: A model wears Triumph on the catwalk at Somerset House as part of London Fashion Week

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