Dua Lipa says she believes Britain wouldn’t be what it is today without immigrants, as the singer unveiled her fashion collection with Donatella Versace.
She presented her summer collaboration with the legendary fashion designer in the hills above Cannes. Stars watching on at the Château de la Croix des Gares included Lewis Hamilton, Simone Ashley, Jason Statham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley,
In an interview released today, Lipa, 27, whose parents emigrated from Kosovo to London before she was born, said blaming immigrants for problems was “very polarising”.
“The UK wouldn’t be what it was if it wasn’t for immigrants,” she told Dazed summer magazine. “It feels so short-sighted to not appreciate and see the beauty in that. It’s very difficult to understand where a lot of governments are coming from in blaming crime on people coming in from different countries.”
She wore pieces from her collection with Versace for a photoshoot for the magazine, and said women working in the music industry are treated better now but conditions are still “not perfect”.
She was inspired in her pop career by stars including Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, and said women working in music now have better record deals and more females working behind the scenes with their best interests at heart.
But tabloid attention and social media does make life in the public eye difficult, she admitted.
“Social media has its downfalls, but it’s a really good way for people to take their own rhetoric into their own hands,” she said. “But music, it’s not perfect. I don’t know when we’ll get to a perfect place, but it’s definitely better than it was before.”
Lipa has started spreading her wings into acting by starring in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie alongside Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu. She will play Mermaid Barbie and is also behind the soundtrack, which will be released on Friday.
She said the film will challenge the audience’s idea of what Barbie represents. “Barbie, the doll, has this idea of what perfection should be. The film — and there’s a lot of diversity in the cast — shows a different story.”
Lipa said she had become firm friends with Versace, adding: “It’s one of the very rare occasions where I work with someone and it really is exactly how you envision it. We text a lot, and she had such incredible input. She wants you to feel amazing — and she wants you to be heard.”
Read the full interview on dazeddigital.com. Dazed summer 2023 issue is on sale from Thursday, June 8
