LaQuan Smith Inspires Fearless Glamour at Fashion Week El Paseo

Stars see stars when they see his collections. Smith has dressed red-carpet personalities like Nicki Minaj, Hailey Bieber, and Khloe Kardashian, along with powerhouse figures including Beyoncé and Vice President Kamala Harris. His styles have graced award shows (Paris Jackson at the Golden Globes), magazine covers (Blake Lively for Vogue, Colman Domingo for GQ, Serena Williams for Essence), and style legends such as Usher, Lenny Kravitz, Brooke Shields, and Dita Von Teese.

The designer has noted that strong, supportive women have shaped his personal growth and his career. “I am constantly inspired by the powerful women in my life,” Smith says. “And I want them to feel powerful, sexy, and feminine.”

The show embodied that, with bodies celebrated through form, fit, and fabric. Music thumped like a pounding heart as strapless, backless, and even rather frontless pieces stretched the imagination of what it means to be desired, the center of the moment. Electric yellow made a primal scream between the parade of black satin, white lace, pale pink organza, and anything-but-basic browns and khaki. What W magazine called “teeny hemlines” and “bodycon silhouettes” joined cheeky and very-near-cheeky cuts.