100s draped in see-through fabric in Australian photo shoot

MEBOURNE, Australia -- Up to 400 people stripped naked then draped themselves in see-through red fabric in a Melbourne city car park on Monday to pose for US photographer Spencer Tunick.

The supermarket had initially refused the photographer renowned for large-scale nude crowd shots around the world permission to use its rooftop car park in the inner suburb of Prahran. But the retailer relented in the face of a public backlash, with 12,000 people applying to take part.

Chloe Horler said she felt lucky to be included among the hundreds of men and women who stripped in 9 degree Celsius (48 degree Fahrenheit) morning cool in Australia's secondlargest city.

"The human body is a beautiful thing. A lot of the time it is really sexualized and it doesn't have to be," Horler told reporters after the 15minute shoot.

Tunick was happy with the result. "I worked quickly in order to keep them from freezing and I think I got some beautiful artwork," Tunick told Nine Network television.