Zayn Malik Is Teaming Up With Versace

In the eyes of Donatella, the pop star “was the perfect fit”​

Now here’s a fashion partnership we couldn’t have predicted. Zayn Malik and Donatella Versace are teaming up to design a clothing line for Versus Versace.

The New York Times reports the 23-year-old singer will work with the Italian fashion house to create Zayn X Versus, a capsule collection of men’s and women’s clothing that will be presented in the spring before it goes on sale in stores and online in May next year.

The collaboration comes after Malik, who has already launched a streetwear line and is also working on a shoe collection with Giuseppe Zanotti, impressed Versace when she first met him through his supermodel girlfriend Gigi Hadid.

Zayn Malik, with his girlfriend Gigi Hadid, at the Versus Versace show during London Fashion Week in September

“I was not exactly a fan of that band,” she told the Times backstage at London Fashion Week in September. “But then I met him again when he started to date Gigi, who I work with all the time. And he impressed me very much — he was so mature, so thoughtful, treated her like such a gentleman. They are very nice young people, a lovely couple, in fact. And then he told me how much he loved fashion. It was then I knew he was the right face for what I had in mind.”

This isn’t the first time Versace has teamed up with a musician – the brand worked with Lady Gaga and rapper M.I.A. in 2013 – but the fashion designer was keen to note that this collaboration will be particularly special.

“Many celebrities do clothing lines that just aren’t relevant,” she added. “This one? It will be. He’s smart to do it with me.”

And for Malik, the partnership was a dream come true. He will also star in Versus’ next two campaigns – the first of which will be unveiled in February.

“I think Versus has always been a very cool brand and is a great brand for me and for people in my generation,” Malik told the newspaper in an email. “I’ve always wanted to design clothes and there’s no brand I’d rather design for than Versus. I like to learn about things I’m interested in and I enjoy being around creative people so I think it will be cool. The bonus is that I get to collaborate with Donatella, whom I love and admire. I know we’ll create something amazing.”

Thanks to Hadid’s introduction, this could be the start of an exciting fashion career for the former One Direction star.