MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Italian fashion house Prada on Monday 15 March dismissed allegations by its former top retail manager in Japan that it had harassed her and asked her to fire "old, fat and ugly" managers.

Prada

"Following the many press reports published on Ms (Rina) Bovrisse's termination of employment, (her) accusations regarding an alleged misconduct of the company towards her have no ground," Prada said in a statement.

"The Japanese competent court has dismissed all of the employee's accusations and had ruled that the termination of her employment was perfectly legitimate," the statement said.

Bovrisse told the Japan Times on Saturday 13 March that she had failed to reach an out-of-court settlement with Prada in an industrial tribunal and was planning further legal action against the company.

Prada fired Bovrisse with effect from Monday 15 March.

Bovrisse, alleging in December that Prada Japan's top executive Davide Sesia and human resources manager Hiroyuki Takahashi discriminated against staff on the basis of their appearance, had filed a labour complaint before a Tokyo court.

She said Sesia had asked her last May to "eliminate" some 15 shop managers or assistant managers he deemed "old, fat, ugly, disgusting or not having the Prada look."