Japan accuses Russia of synchronising Miu Miu

getty via daylife

Russia's Natalia Ischenko and Svetlana Romashina are the reigning queens of synchronised swimming. Their high energy routines have earned them multiple world championships and after a mesmerising performance on Monday, they are now tipped to win the duet gold medal today. But one fashionista has given them a poor score for the originality of their costumes. 

mayumi nakamura's twitter

This afternoon, Mayumi Nakamura, an editor at Vogue Japan with a very good memory, Tweeted a photo mashup. On the left, is an image of the Russian duo in their 'Doll' costumes from Monday. On the right, a runway shot of British model Lily Donaldson in a strapless dress from Miu Miu - the diffusion brand of Italian luxury powerhouse Prada. It's from the Spring/Summer 2008 collection so yes, the shot is five years old. The Miu Miu dress boasts a strikingly similar design of two white girls' faces and a pair of ghostly white hands. 

The caption - as translated by ex Vogue Japan staffer Leeyong Soo, who kindly drew the Tweet to our attention - reads "How Miu Miu influenced Russian #Olympics synchro swimmers costume". 

Is it a direct copy of the Miu Miu artwork, which was originally supplied by Swedish illustrator Liselotte Watkins? Kind of.   

But it would not be the first time that synchronised swimmers have been accused of ripping off someone else's designs for their costumes at a summer Olympics. 

After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, German graffiti artist Cantwo accused the Spanish synchronised swimming team of copyright infringement after a direct copy of one of his 2001 works appeared on their competition costumes.