'Is that a nipple?' Jolin Tsai's 'body-baring' concert dress causes controversy

When people were campaigning to "free the nipple" on Instagram, perhaps this was not what they had in mind.

Two days ago, Taiwanese songstress Jolin Tsai took to the social media platform to share some snaps from her Ugly Beauty concert tour.

Much like Karen Mok and her gams, Jolin has a reputation for having some over-the-top costumes. But, this one concert dress might take the cake.

In a series of posts, the 42-year-old showed off an exquisite long dress with a high slit but what raised eyebrows wasn't the slit but the image of a naked woman's body on the dress.

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The breasts, nipples and butt were on full display, however, her manager confirmed to Taiwanese media that it was not Jolin's actual body.

The manager explained that it was a visual effect created by gradients on the dress. It's not clear what the exact process was but 3D scanning of a body was done in Taiwan before the dress was worked on overseas.

Jolin's team liked it while the singer found it interesting.

The manager also confirmed that the design wasn't based on Jolin's actual body.

According to media reports, Jolin even joked during the concert and asked: "Is anyone looking at my face? Or are you looking at my 'assets'?"

Her dress caused a stir as netizens had a myriad of reactions. One asked "Is that a nipple?" while another didn't quite know where the dress wanted them to look.

"Surely I'm not the only one who zoomed in," said one netizen.

Another wrote: "There's no 'crime' with our bodies. The 'crime' lies in how you regard them."

There were also some notable people in the comments — namely, local singer Tanya Chua who said it was "spicy" and American drag queen Violet Chachki who commented with the heart-eye emoji.

bryanlim@asiaone.com

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