Coachella's 'glitter boobs' launches naked new venture in Manly

Sophie Tea shot to fame in 2017 after photos of her posing at Coachella with glitter, gems and jewels stuck across her bare chest went viral.

The British artist never expected the mass attention, but after having started a now famous festival trend, it saw her social media following shoot through the roof.

Now, the 27-year-old has used her platform to continue to embrace the female body.

Taking to her Instagram story, the Manchester-born artist called on Aussie women to take part in a nude window display to celebrate female body diversity and self-love – and it caused Manly to come to a standstill.

After being inundated with hundreds of requests Ms Tea narrowed it down to 25 female volunteers, who stripped naked and posed in front her new Manly studio, with nothing but colourful paint covering their bodies.

For the display, she used 25 tins of paint on the women, who represent different ages, sizes and backgrounds.

"I feel like it has come full circle from me being a self-conscious young girl to going full circle again, but this time with me trying to give other women the same empowering experience I had," Sophie told news.com.au

"My entire life before that photo I had been so self-conscious about having small boobs that I would actually stuff socks in my bra.

"But the reaction I got ended up being so positive from everyone. I think being open and saying 'this is who I am' was so empowering for me."

On first launching her Send Nudes collection in London last year, Sophie received more than 1000 naked images in one night from women wanting to become artistic muses.

"I was so shocked but also amazed by everyone's personal stories on why they wanted to be involved," she said.

"One girl had a double mastectomy and her mother passed away from breast cancer two weeks earlier and she wanted her powerful nude photo to be part of the exhibition to honour her mother."

After a similar call-out to her Aussie fans, Ms Tea was again blown-away with the hundreds of women wanting to take part in the nude window display in honour of her collection.

"I was humbled and overwhelmed with the response," she said. "Lots of women reached out to me sharing their reasons for wanting to celebrate their bodies in this way.

"One of them was a new mum who didn't want me to paint over her stretch marks – it's so inspiring to see these women unite in a brave and bold display of female nudity."

Ms Tea's abstract collection also features women who have eating and mental health disorders, to pregnant women and others with mastectomies and post-surgery.

Her mini art world from Instagram to the shop will come to life on July 2 in Manly.

'GLITTER BOOBS' TO MULTI-MILLIONAIRE

Before her festival fame and huge burst of art-loving social media followers, the Manchester-born artist, who has been living in Sydney since March, was a business grad who had a job lined up in her industry two months after finishing uni in July 2016.

In early 2017, she flew to New York for a meeting with a potential investor over an app she created to connect buyers directly with artists.

However, they encouraged her to pursue art herself.

"I thought being an artist wasn't good enough because I had a business degree, but the investor told me to stop thinking like that."

He told her that if she failed as an artist to come back and they would invest in her app, but she needed to try being an artist first.

"I never needed to go back to him," Sophie said.

She then went on to forge a successful career as an artist by building her business through social media.

But by mid-2017, she was struggling and jumping at every opportunity to grow her business.

It was then she was approached by Jenna Meek, a friend-of-a-friend who was then setting up her body jewellery brand Gypsy Shrine, now a global business with a string of A-list fans, and wanted another artist to help apply body jewels at festivals.

"While at Coachella, we had the glitter boobs idea," Sophie said

The "glitter boobs" picture went viral, even capturing the attention of Ellen DeGeneres.

Sophie now boasts a multimillion-dollar art empire with her work selling between A$500 to A$20,000 a piece.