Karen Mok's nearly NUDE photos create a stir

Twenty years is a long time to be in show business.

But Hong Kong-born pop diva and actress Karen Mok would have you know that despite boasting a wealth of experience, she is no jaded, world-weary veteran.

The sultry, ageless 43-year-old Eurasian goddess is celebrating two decades in the music industry in the best style possible - by baring her porcelain skin.

Lots of it.

In conjunction with her upcoming commemorative three-album and DVD box set, The Age of MOKnificence, Mok - who launched her career with her 1993 eponymous Cantopop studio effort - has released a titillating photo book that features her in different states of undress.

The Age of MOKnificence will be out in stores here later this month.

Metaphor

While she is no stranger to flaunting her svelte figure and long slender legs, some of the poses in the photo book definitely rank among Mok's most daring.

A couple of shots show her totally nude and swathed in cling wrap.

While Mok intended the pictures to be a metaphor for society's prevailing view on the "expiry date" of a woman's beauty, they are undeniably pretty kinky.

Some would say they veer towards the sadomasochistic.

Then there's another one of Mok wearing a waterfall-inspired wig.

Her artificial luscious locks drape down like a veil across her naked body, covering her pivotal bits and showing off her "S-line" (a Korean term for the shape of the breasts and derriere when viewed from the side).

In an interview with Sina Entertainment last Thursday, the superstar said that most of the provocative pictures were "not new".

Same figure

They were taken in 2005, but remained unpublished and uncirculated till now.

"My figure hasn't changed much in the past eight years. Many people have commented that I look the same," she said.

According to Mok's label Universal Music, the newer pictures in her album were taken in South Africa, including a gorgeous shot of her decked out in an antique wedding dress.

Mok, who last appeared on the big screen in July in Hollywood star Keanu Reeves' directorial debut Man of Tai Chi, told Sina Entertainment that it is "unlikely" she'd pose nude in the future.

"Since I've already done it, I don't see myself going down that path again... The most attractive type of photos aren't about exposing bare flesh, but about what's hidden beneath our clothes," she said.

So is Mok's husband anxious or worried about men ogling her uber-sexy photo book?

Mok tied the knot with German finance executive Johannes Natterer in 2011 and they have no kids.

She told Hong Kong reporters that her husband is admiring her daring pictures. "He doesn't mind it at all, he thinks I'm very cool to have done something like that... He finds those pictures artistic and gorgeous."