A senior manager at Prada is suing the company for discrimination and ha****ment, claiming her bosses ordered her to fire "old, fat and ugly" staff.

Rina Bovrisse, who oversaw 500 staff at 40 of the Italian fashion label's stores in Japan, also claims that she was urged to change her hairstyle and lose weight, the UK's Telegraph newspaper reports.

Ms Bovrisse has filed a discrimination and ha****ment case against the label in Tokyo's industrial tribunal courts.

She alleges that Davide Sesia, the CEO of Prada Japan, asked her to "eliminate" 15 store managers because they were "old, fat, ugly, disgusting or [didn't have] the Prada look".

After his alleged comments the company's human resources team reportedly issued 13 members of staff with devotional transfer orders due to poor sales.

Ms Bovrisse, who has worked in the fashion industry for 18 years, also claims she was told in a meeting that Mr Sesia was "ashamed of [her] ugliness, so he doesn't want visitors from Italy to see her".

In the meeting she claims she was told to change her hairstyle and lose weight under orders from Mr Sesia.

Ms Bovrisse said she was launching the claim to "protect hard-working women and make sure their working environment is safe".

She was placed on involuntary leave by the company last November.