Elizabeth steps back into a bikini to launch her new swimwear range

21 APRIL 2008
A few years ago Elizabeth Hurley famously declared she would never again be seen eating her lunch in a bikini, nor strolling the beach with her midriff showing. Now she's stepped back into a two-piece, though, in a series of stunning shots to launch her own designs for a High Street store.

The sultry pictures depict the mum-of-one on the deck of a boat in a selection of the colourful creations she designed for Mango. And they show that at 42, Elizabeth looks better than ever, though she has admitted in an interview to accompany the shots that she enlisted the expertise of "nice photographers" and a little digital enhancement.

"I like a certain amount of retouching like anybody," admits the upfront English rose.

Even if the pictures have been retouched slightly they suggest Elizabeth has fulfilled on the promise she made in a 2005 interview to "go to ground and annoy everyone by emerging thinner, sexier and mentally cleansed".