ApparelMagic client LaQuan Smith was in a different headspace this season, an Empire state of mind. And quite literally at that, staging his Spring/Summer 2022 show atop the Empire State Building smack-dab in the center of midtown Manhattan.
The venue choice was a statement all its own, and it signaled a new prominence for the designer. Smith, long associated with larger-than-life celebrity clients, is now a household name of his own. And the clothes? They reflected it.
He went bold. Fishnet bodystockings, plush robes, and lingerie transitioned effortlessly into satin minidresses and diamante-encrusted bras. This was not a show for the faint of heart—and not just because of the runway one hundred stories in the air!
Later in the collection, he traded the slick and shine for dazzle-print patterns that evoked the famous black-and-white warships. The LaQuan Smith woman is fierce in the real sense of the word.
