The Cannes Film Festival certainly doesn’t lack high-wattage situations, yet when glam and glitz are involved, Donatella Versace has a knack for setting the bar just a little bit higher. Proof is that she touched down amid the movie madness to launch her latest fashion collaboration, a hook-up with the British-Albanian pop star Dua Lipa. The project telegraphs that she knows pretty well how to leverage the power of über-stardom to get the Versace message across, to reach wider and cooler audiences. Lipa’s role in the upcoming Barbie movie already has the internet spiraling into a frenzy, and for the cherry on the cake, her new track for the film is on its way this coming Friday. As the saying goes, better three hours too soon than a minute too late. Timing is everything.

The see-now buy-now high-summer collection they co-designed, called La Vacanza, was presented via a private show, held at sunset in a very Versace-esque villa perched atop the hills surrounding the Cannes bay, with a view so breathtaking, a décor so vastly sumptuous, and lawns so immaculately manicured, it made you feel almost dizzy with too much fabulous information. The location came also with an impeccable cinéphile pedigree, as it was apparently here that some scenes of Hitchcock’s masterpiece To Catch A Thief were filmed.

At a press conference before the show, the two co-stars were full of praise for each other. “I’ve known Dua since the beginning of her career,” chirped Donatella. “What I saw was a super-talented young woman who projected passion, strength, and drive, truly inspiring for lots of women. And she knows about clothes.” Dua reciprocated: “Donatella really cares about how you feel in a dress, she wants to make sure that it’s right for you, it empowers you and makes you feel not only beautiful but also confident.”

Versace opened the Maison’s archives to Lipa, an opportunity that was “creatively mind blowing” for the singer; the collection had no predetermined theme, “it was more about freedom and confidence,” she said. It actually evolved from a back and forth of ideas. Versace explained: “As we have a common language, it was work but also fun, and to hear a voice outside my team was so important for me as Dua represents the women of today.”