What a week for Dua Lipa.
The British pop star first made waves this weekend by debuting a funky new fringe on the Cannes red carpet — oh, and a new boyfriend, Romain Gavras, the French music video director behind the jaw-dropping visuals of MIA’s ‘Bad Girls’ music video, as well as Kanye West’s ‘No Church In The Wild’ and Jamie XX’s award-winning music video for his track ‘Gosh.’
But she’s not stopping there. Lipa has caused a stir in both her personal and professional life this year at Cannes, with her maiden Versace collaboration shown for the first time yesterday.
The “La Vacanza” collection is a joint effort between Lipa and Versace creative director Donatella Versace. It is based on conversations the pair have had since they became friends in 2018. Their friendship began after Lipa wore a Versace dress to the Brit Awards and caught the eye of Donatella. She eventually invited the pop star to become one of the fashion house’s key faces.
“I was so nervous,” Lipa told Women’s Wear Daily of the first time she wore Versace, “but the clothes gave me so much confidence.” On Donatella, she added: “We’re friends, and now it feels like more than that.”
The looks were glittering, ‘90s inspired and butterfly-heavy — a motif Versace has come to be known for after founder Gianni Versace’s fondness for adding them to his garments.
“The butterflies have a very important meaning because they remind me of my brother, because a butterfly flying is freedom and he was so into that,” Donatella told WWD. “It’s in my life because Gianni is still relevant today.” Versace died in 1997 after he was shot outside his Miami Beach mansion.
Outfits were modelled by the likes of Iris Law, Irina Shayk, Lila Moss and Amelia Gray, who sported short hemlines, bejewelled handbags, cowboy boots and bouffant hair straight out of the swinging ‘60s.
Aside from the hair, the ‘90s was very much the decade of choice for Lipa and Versace’s collection, with model Shayk donning a black backless dress that showed off her “whale-tail” Versace thong underneath— a true ’90s statement.
The front row was a smaller affair than usual, with the guest list capped at 60 people. There were some famous faces — K-pop star Hyunjin from Stray Kids, French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus and American rapper Future, from the rap collective Migos — but no major fuss.
The key was creating a fun environment, Donatella told WWD: “So what is more fun than the south of France when a bunch of people are around being flirty and sexy?”
“We wanted to do it in a place where it was the busiest time of year,” Lipa added. “We felt like the ideas behind the collection would really shine through here because it has that fun energy.”
