'Sex and the City' star gets Israeli cover-up

JERUSALEM - "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker's fashion sense raised the ire of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel who demanded that billboards featuring the actress in a skimpy dress be covered up.

Photos of Parker lying in a skin-revealing, spaghetti strap gown were pasted on billboards across Israel promoting Lux soap.

But ultra-Orthodox Jews took offence at the sight of Parker's arms, back, shoulders and even a little thigh.

So much so that one leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi contacted the distributor and warned that if the offending posters were not removed then the religious community would boycott the company's extensive product line, the Haaretz daily reported.

Almost immediately, the Israeli branch of consumer product group Unilever removed the posters and replaced them with a more chaste version.

In the new posters, Parker is wearing an uncharacteristically modest long-sleeve gown that would have made Carrie Bradshaw, her fashion goddess character in the iconic American TV show, blanch.

Downplaying the makeover, a marketing manager for Unilever said jokingly: "We decided to make her dress more suitable for the winter weather".

- REUTERS