Pageant News Bureau

Alana and Dara Iantuono are identical twins with a twist. They're "mirror" twins. Each is the reverse image of the other, like a reflection in a looking glass.

Alana is left-handed, but looks right-handed in a mirror. Dara is right-handed, but looks left-handed in a mirror. Their dental X-rays are like opposite views of the same mouth. They are different but complementary, like yin and yang, zig and zag, vice and versa.

In some things they are exactly alike. Both are 20 and attend the same school. They inherited the same pageant genes. Their mother was Mrs. Rhode Island in the Mrs. America Pageant in 1978, and Mrs. New Jersey in the Mrs. United States Pageant in 1993. Their grandmother was Mrs. Rhode Island in the Mrs. America Pageant. Both recently caught the attention of Bikini.com, which provided these pictures.

But their pageant careers are different. And they never compete against each other.

Alana is in the Miss America system. This past year, she was the overall swimsuit winner, community service award winner and first runner-up at Miss Rhode Island. She will represent the state in the National Sweetheart Pageant in Hoopeston, Ill., on Labor Day 2001. Dara has competed in the state finals of Miss Teen All American, where she was first runner-up and Miss Photogenic. In autumn 2001, she will compete to become Miss Rhode Island USA.

If both of them win, it will be the first time in history that identical twins hold both major titles in one state.

And if their pageant careers blossom, Alana and Dara could both become movie stars, maybe Bond girls. Can you imagine James Bond, trapped in a hall of mirrors with these magnificent mirror twins? One is in love with him, and one is out to get him. What a predicament! But as they say in Her Majesty's Secret Service, that's why he gets paid the big pounds.

Photos courtesy of Bikini.com

Two sides of a beautiful story