Press Pen: LaQuan Smith Fall/Winter 2013 Show Review

Dear Pennies & Pens,

Most of you have probably heard the name LaQuan Smith as his name has been buzzing on the fashion scene for a couple years now. For those who haven’t, LaQuan Smith is an emerging New York based designer who at 24 has designed custom pieces for pop culture icons like Beyonce`, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and more. LaQuan’s designs have also been featured in the pages of magazines such as Vogue, Italian Vogue, Seventeen, Essence and Marie Claire.

This season, LaQuan was inspired by a trip he took to Paris. He watched James Bond films on the plane as well as his favorite movie Boomerang and coincidentally during one of his trips to a vintage store he stumbled across vintage books with “Bond” like characters on the cover. LaQuan describes the collection in the following way, “There is an element of sophistication, edge, strength and sexiness that these women embody. This season my collection is just a tribute to the women who embrace that.” In essence, for Fall/Winter 2013, LaQuan Smith presented his “Bond” collection at the Hudson Hotel penthouse.

For this collection, LaQuan consulted with the famed furrier Nija Furs. Nija furs is the first black owned furrier company. They have worked with everyone from Jean Paul Gaultier to P.Diddy. Walter Steiger provided the shoes again for the collection. The looks are named after characters from the James bond movies. LaQuan mentions “I wanted to put a fun spin on the collection, this season I really had fun creating these pieces”.

As far as my review of the collection, I thought it was phenomenal! Not one piece needs to be changed or altered. The collection stuck to a very basic color palette using only black and white. However, despite the limited color usage the collection was very versatile. There were so many pieces I loved. I loved the white with black lettering “LaQuan” skirt, a sexy black dress that was see-through, there was also a cool black coat with fur, and a all white outfit with black stars.

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything.