Lambton Quay, where the rat race had a surprise topless guest.

It can take a lot to turn heads on Wellington's Lambton Quay – but a blue-haired woman walking topless down the street on a busy Wednesday afternoon managed to achieve that.

The woman was walking on the street's west side pavement in the direction of Parliament about 3.30pm.

Police were called within a few minutes.

"Police attended and they have searched the area, but no-one was found matching the description," a spokeswoman said.

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Police said public toplessness was usually dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

A person usually had to be wilfully offending others to break indecency laws.

In December, a "Free the Nipple" event involved 22 topless women lying in the sun at Oriental Bay.

The event was aimed to promote gender equality and was about "desexualising the nipple", organiser Pollyanna Besley said at the time.