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In a last-minute change of plans, LaQuan Smith cancelled his fall 2025 show, instead inviting clients and buyers to his Long Island City design studio to pore over his latest offering. While he assured us that there will be more shows to come (his are always star-studded, late-night affairs) “it's really an important time to focus on my business, focus on the collection, focus on my market,” he said. “Right now I’m doing something a little bit different.” Nonetheless, the designer’s latest collection was very much in line with his signature aesthetic: sexy, audacious, and in his words “a little bit dangerous.”

Smith took the classic and usually demure houndstooth print and fashioned it in pony hair for a patent leather-trimmed cropped jacket and a pencil skirt with an ultra-high slit. Nipped waist blazers in wool and tweed—along with a silk pussybow blouse marked by shimmery pinstripes—screamed office siren. Though Smith leaned into tailoring with suiting separates embellished with mini heat-set crystals and a pair of cummerbund trousers, “I don't want to forget about my woman who is obsessed with her body and loves to go out and have a great time and really be empowered by her own humanity.” To that end, Smith revived his telltale catsuits—one in black lace that was completely sheer, save for a small strip of fabric between the legs that would prevent an indecent exposure arrest.

Smith’s longtime inspirations—among them Norma Kamali, Lil’ Kim, and his hometown New York City—were palpable in his flashy, oversized outerwear, including a sweeping royal blue faux fur coat. Growing up, Smith saw the women in his family wearing furs for church, funerals, and to celebrate milestones like anniversaries. “To me that was the blueprint of what success looked like and what glamour looked like, so I still stand firm in that,” he said.

We know the designer has a knack for overtly sexy looks, so it was nice to see an open cage-knit jacket and mock-neck column dress, both covered in chunky crystals hand sewn in India. Still sultry, but a less expected direction that he should continue to follow.

— VOGUE

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Many designers have a trench coat in their oeuvre. Whether it’s a standard khaki version we’ve seen a million times or a more inventive, stylized take, the piece is often designed with everyday practicality in mind: It’s a good piece to have when it’s chilly, rainy, or both—a sophisticated alternative to a yellow rubber raincoat. But LaQuan Smith had a more specific use in mind when adding a trench to his spring 2025 collection. “My theory of a transparent trench coat always goes to the woman who, [on] a rainy night, is going to her man’s house to have makeup sex—or something like that,” Smith said in his Long Island City office and atelier the day before his show. Adding to that inspiration is an equally provocative fabric: “This is a new technique that my Italian mills have been working on. It’s a transparent horse.”

“What does a LaQuan Smith woman look like during the day?” the designer asked rhetorically. She’s wearing khaki, safari inspired separates, like a jacket with front pockets and an open, lace-up back or low-slung, wide-leg trousers paired with a bodysuit. “I’ve been obsessed with this argyle cutout concept,” Smith said of fashioning this season’s bodysuits, which come in brown and white lace. During our walkthrough, when a model emerged in a strapless bleached-denim gown with a very high slit, Smith noted, “This is my girl in the Hamptons. She’s hosting for the weekend.” She probably owns the collection’s mini denim dress, too, padded at the hips to give what Smith describes as “a BBL effect.”

Though known for his severe designs, come the night of Smith’s show, frilly organza miniskirts with matching button-up blouses seemingly floated down the runway. The airy pieces, he said the day before, were a nod to what Smith considers the ultimate luxury: sleep. Through his Samsung partnership, he’s become obsessed with tracking his through the brand’s Galaxy Ring, which he gifted each of his seated show attendees.

And about that show. It was held at a sprawling, industrial event space in Bushwick, with the soundtrack of hits like Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” as high-octane as Carine Roitfeld’s styling. (A neon ostrich-feather jacket over a navel-exposing, plunging-V black dress, anyone?) When Winnie Harlow appeared in the transparent trench, a front row that included Mary J. Blige, Ferg, Camila Cabello, Honey Balenciaga, and Lil Durk erupted in applause.

— VOGUE

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"LaQuan Smith hosted his fall 2024 show at Cipriani 25 tonight across the street from the famous “Bull of Wall Street” statue in the heart of Manhattan’s Financial District. Caviar and cocktails awaited guests as they walked in. Busta Rhymes and Babyface sat in the front row; the performed at the closing of the show. “For the Love of Money” was the opening tune, it followed the unequivocal reverberating toll of the New York Stock Exchange bell. The day of trading was officially closed, but Smith’s night was just getting started.

“The thing is that when you come to LaQuan Smith, you’re always looking for something after 6PM,” said the designer. “That gave me a way to broaden my collection with a lot of daywear separates.” He is smart to look to expand his collection into day, tapping into the other half of his existing customer’s wardrobe. His challenge will be, as he put it, “to understand who she aspires to be and merging that with the fantasy of what she needs.”

— VOGUE

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In a room filled with A-listers including Mary J. Blige, Babyface, Laverne Cox, June Ambrose, and countless others, LaQuan Smith unveiled his Spring/Summer 2024 collection. The high-octane energy of the entire room had the location on Broome Street buzzing. 

“This collection was all about bold proportions, strong tailoring, power suiting if you will, we did use a lot of leather in the collection,” Smith said immediately following the presentation. The proportions he shared included a baby blue gown in a faux croc material—he also had plenty of hot pant pieces that exuded sexiness.

On who the LaQuan Smith woman is, the designer divulges that she’s someone who wears silk in the winter and leather in the summer. In other words, she’s someone who unabashedly walks to the beat of her own drum. He also mentions that she pushes boundaries whilst finding statement pieces that she will have in her closet “for the rest of her life.”

— ESSENCE

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As guests overlooked New York City in the iconic Rainbow Room, the collection’s identity took form with the force of high glam. Smith’s collection are typically glamorous by nature due to his body-con and body-exposing party-ready designs. But this time collection upped the ante on contemporarily chic designs.

For the first time, tailoring-focused designs seeped into Smith’s vision – offering up reworked dresses reimagined with tuxedo lapel detailing, a fitted black tuxedo with a backless jacket, remixed jackets and a luxe silver double-breasted skirt suit. The LaQuan Smith woman was also outfitted with the updated cutout dresses, which are a brand signature, deep neck sheer tops, a reversed blazer dress and a show stopping black tinsel turtleneck dress.

— HYPEBEAST

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The evolution of the LaQuan Smith woman is always an interesting one to watch. She becomes more sophisticated, sexy, and confident with every collection. Equally interesting is the ways in which Smith plays on elements from a past collection in his new ones, while never neglecting to introduce something strikingly new for the brand. This time, it’s an exploration of LaQuan Smith as daytime wear that can easily be taken into everyday settings.

With color being another noteworthy addition to this season’s show there’s no doubt the LaQuan Smith girl is still evolving, but she seems to have a commanding aura that remains put no matter the case.

— ESSENCE MAGAZINE