Opinion | Versus Versace collection infuses the brand with M.I.A.'s edgy style

Rihanna is working with British clothing chain River Island, and Madonna did a capsule collection with H&M.

Now, Sri Lankan-British rapper and musician M.I.A., who shot to fame in London with her first album Arular, has released a capsule collection for Versace's younger diffusion line, Versus.

Hot on the heels of J.W. Anderson, who collaborated with the brand last year and has just been announced as the successor to Stuart Vevers at Loewe, M.I.A. infused her powerful, irreverent street style into the Italian label; this is one of the more exciting collaborations to come about.

After several years being co-designed by Donatella Versace and Jonathan Anderson (another young British talent) it seems that Versus is continuing down this London, street-style route. Since there's so much talk of Milan's complacency with fashion's new global pace, perhaps Donatella is right to have the foresight to tap the talents of the edgier, rising London scene.

A grainy campaign shot in East London markets features M.I.A. and friends wearing the collection. Perhaps some irony is intended, as one shot shows a girl clad in one of the outfits standing among piles of £10 jeans being sold at a stall.

According to the project details, the idea was inspired by the bootlegged Versace prints M.I.A. would find on market stalls as a teenager. A high fashion house parodying its own bootlegged products - now that's a fresh idea.

"It's always been part of the M.I.A. culture - to talk about bootlegs, and people that sell them or make them," the musician says in the release.