t is a sexy new look that the Spice Girls desperately hope will show their younger pop rivals they can still compete in the glamour stakes.

Posing for a raunchy photo shoot, they want to prove to the likes of Girls Aloud that they are not past it yet - despite being ten years older than them.

Wearing little more than a bra and a bizarre skirt resembling a stack of lampshades, Geri Halliwell aka Ginger Spice boldly shows off her slim figure.

And Mel B, better known as Scary Spice, is also refusing to grow old gracefully with her decolletage clearly on show in a revealing bra.

But the sexy new look has been criticised by pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor who feels it does not fit in with their comeback single ‘Headlines’.

“I don’t like the video. I don’t understand why they’re singing in their underwear when they’re talking about friendship,” said the singer.

“It’s all about context. I’ve done advertisements for Monsoon [she posed nude] and spreads for men’s magazines but they are supposed to be singing about being friends - why do they have to be in their bra and pants to do that?”

Miss Ellis-Bextor beat Victoria Beckham to the number one spot with her single “Groovejet” when they both went head to head in 2000.

The pictures are from the spice Girls official tour programme. They are releasing their greatest hits album today.

It comes after it was revealed that stick thin Victoria Beckham is going on a diet ahead of the forthcoming Spice Girls Reunion Tour.

But the shock is that the diet will involve Posh actually eating more.

The 33-year-old