Has the LaQuan Smith Woman Lost Her Way? Missed Marks in Spring Summer 2025
A critical review of the “Lucid Dream” collection.
During this past New York Fashion Week, LaQuan Smith presented his Spring Summer 2025 collection titled “Lucid Dream.” Located in a Bushwick warehouse, the tattered and disheveled setting juxtaposed the collection's animalistic glamor. With strong styling done by Carine Roitfield, effortlessly dewy makeup by Lancome, and powerful hair by Camille Rose, the collection's lack of unity or sentiment has only one culprit, the designer.
This season, Smith collaborated with Samsung, accessorizing models in the technologically advanced Galaxy Ring. Marriott was also an official collaborator, offering Marriott Bonvoy members exclusive access to the show and afterparty. Additionally, the brand partnered with Giuseppe Zanotti (its third consecutive season doing so) for the collection’s footwear. Smith's brand has been essentially built on evening wear, yet for this collection he aimed to “dress the LaQuan Smith woman all through the day.”
The brand's bestsellers- bodysuits, catsuits, and dresses- were given a rather light and airy twist from the brand's usual dark and moody aesthetic. It’s important to note this season's introduction of white lace wasn’t a total surprise to fans of the brand. At the 2024 Met Gala themed ‘The Garden Of Time’, LaQuan Smith and his chosen guest Adut Akech attended in all white. Akech’s look was a combination of catsuit designs of the season's past and a prelude to his Spring Summer 2025 collection. Her outfit touted what seems to be the same white lace and flower motif used in the Lucid Dream collection.
The LaQuan Smith woman is luxuriously, elegantly, and sophisticatedly sexy without fail, yet this time around, something was missing. Whether it was fit issues, the vapid accessorization of the Galaxy Ring, or an overall lack of storytelling and cohesion, the consensus is the collection fell flat. Smith described the collection's denim floor-length gown as the “girl in the Hamptons who’s hosting for the weekend”. Yet the lackluster pocketed dress reads nothing of the sort. Instead, she’d likely be on the worst-dressed list at a red carpet event.
The use of bleached denim throughout the collection registered as a bit out of place. However, when considering the goal of dressing the LaQuan Smith woman through the day rather than just the night, the use of denim is understandable. Had the “Girl in the Hamptons” dress been better tailored, or given some sort of innovative twist on the basic floor-length gown silhouette, it could’ve better expressed Smith’s sentiment.
Some looks stand out as clear successes. The reinvention of the trench, billowing organza, deep v-cut necklines, and oversized low-waisted trousers were highlights of the collection.
In contrast, bare bodysuits, noncohesive color and fabric choices, out of place swimwear moments, abhorrent fit problems, an occasional singular flower, and a disconnected finale bride all came together to contribute to the collections intense lack of cohesion.
It’s apparent that edits were necessary but not made. Countless fit issues, often numerous within one look, are simply unacceptable for a designer of Smiths caliber. Ending the collection with six all-white looks was questionable considering Smith doesn’t do bridal, not to mention the final look being a bride. Despite her being the LaQuan Smith version of a bride, wearing only a bodysuit, gloves, and a veil, the model's bra protruding out the neckline made the irreverent look even more off-putting.
The array of fabric choices only further contributes to the confusion. Towards the end of the collection, swimwear, ostrich-feathers, and lace are presented back-to-back-to-back in three separate looks. It’s difficult to gather a sense of the color scheme when black, nude, neon green, baby pink, brown, sapphire blue, baby blue, and white are all included but rarely ever combined.
Without awareness of the Samsung partnership, the accessorization of the Galaxy Ring seems all wrong. Smith states that the ring inspired him to design two sleepwear looks within the collection, but it’s not clear which of the 50 looks those are.
With a bridal look, sleepwear, swimwear, and daywear all in one collection, it’s no surprise that cohesion was nowhere to be found.
All in all, although this collection has great moments, it fails in comparison to the brand's typically exceptional shows. Long gone are the days of Spring/Summer 2022 that earned Smith his acclaimed CFDA award. One can’t help but hope future collections return to the quality, tone, aesthetic, and unity that’s long been native to the brand. There’s a reason people say, ‘If it ain’t broke, dont fix it’. This may very well be one of those moments. LaQuan Smith has established overwhelming success through glamorous evening wear, maybe we should just stick with what works?
Amarissa’s Editor’s Note: Redeate is a participant in Fashion Talk's Summer 2024 Student Writing Program. Aligned with our mission to uplift young voices in the fashion industry, I’m excited to share her fresh and insightful perspective with our community.
Contributing edits by our summer ‘24 program volunteer Lauren Corcoran, with final oversight & edits by , Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Fashion Talk.
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