Did Ciara steal Beyonce's music video style?

Ciara's 'Love Sex Magic' vs. Beyonce's 'Single Ladies'. The styling for the two videos seems more than coincidental

Hip hop R&B artist Ciara may have received a little too much inspiration from Beyonce. In her new video 'Love Sex Magic' featuring Justin Timberlake, many have noticed distinct similarities between her look and Beyonce's - similar blonde afro wigs, leopard print unitards, black leotards in front of a white background, and even choreography are just a few of the similarities. Turns out, Ciara may have been getting some inside help, enlisting insiders in Beyonce's camp to borrow clothes and steal dance moves.

Apparently, the 23-year-old singer was so desperate to duplicate Beyonce's success with her latest video, the Timberlake-fueled Love Sex Magic,' that she managed to infiltrate Beyonce's wardrobe ' jacking animal-print catsuits, window treatment-inspired shades, and blond afro wigs left and right. The Queen of Crunk & B even recruited an insider from Mrs. Carter's camp ' a shady backup dancer/informant ' to feed her stolen moves.

[from Honey Magazine]

Ciara, of course, denies the whole thing, saying that she was 'inspired' by Beyonce's Vegas show (as well as her costume designer) and that the whole thing is 'petty.'

People are talking about the similarities between Beyonce's choreography and your choreography. I know what you were going for…
Right, I got inspired by the Vegas show, but go ahead. What do you want to know?

How do you even address that? Have you seen the screen grabs?
I don't think there's really anything to address. I think it's very, very funny. And you know what my response is to that? For the ones that have something negative to say? They must have really enjoyed it that much to go and nitpick it, because it's something they pulled up and was like, Yo!' There were a couple of things in there that I've never seen. I think that it's important for us as artists to be original and to create something new, so it would be really silly of me to go and create something you've already seen. So not one time were any of my references another artist. My references were clearly inspired from shows that I've actually seen. It goes to show how creative we can be and how close the worlds are. I did my first video with my metal outfit. I was inspired by Thierry Mugler. Now, from my understanding, Beyonce is using Thierry Mugler for her tour. It just is what it is. It's very petty to me. When people nitpick something and they say negative things, my response to that is they really must have liked it that much. They just said, This just can't be! We gotta find something!' That's also the definition of a person having too much time on their hands to do nothing. That's how I look at that.

[from Honey Magazine]

Recently, Marianne Faithfull accused Kate Moss of stealing her look, and Christina Aguleria was accused of borrowing Lady Gaga's look. But there are also differences. This isn't really like the Christina Aguleria/ Lady Gaga feud, because that occurred before Lady Gaga was even really a name. In fact, it was the controversy that caused much of Gaga's meteoric stardom. In this situation, it's between Beyonce and Ciara - both big names in the industry.

My favorite line from this interview is: 'It goes to show how creative we can be and how close the worlds are.' There is a world of difference between being inspired by something and actually copying the look - which is exactly what Ciara did. Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' video (while some of the choreography was taken from a '60s dance routine), was totally different than any of the videos out right now. SNL even did a skit about it. So when you wear a black one-sleeve leotard with a white background in your own video, there are going to be comparisons. And it's not as if the similarities stop with the leotard. There are the afro wigs to consider, as well as the futuristic get-up and leopard skin unitard. Honey Magazine has a side-by-side of the two stars' looks for your viewing pleasure. I would recommend checking it out.

Ciara is shown below outside a Knicks game on 3/27/09. Credit: FamePictures