LaQuan Smith's Spring 2024 Collection Is For 'the Bold and the Nasty'

LaQuan Smith is turning up the heat. What else would a new collection be for?

The New York City-born designer is known for his cutouts that skim the body’s censored areas and sculpt its silhouette, and Spring 2024 ups the ante. Cutouts reveal a wedge of butt cheek here. High-slit skirts tease the upper leg there. Hems trace the waist before dipping down past the hips. When creating these looks, Smith tells Fashionista, he was thinking of the person who loves to party and show off their body — iconic cultural figures from past decades came to mind as inspiration: Grace Jones, David Bowie, Freddie Mercury and Barbarella.

“This collection is all about bold proportions, strong tailoring, power suiting. My woman is a very… leather in the summer, silk in the winter kind of girl,” Smith reveals backstage. “She really is pushing those boundaries, in a way, where it really is about just having a statement piece that she can have in her closet for the rest of her life.”

Even more, Smith tried something completely new for Spring 2024: crocodile-embossed (i.e., not real crocodile) leather.

“The way that we worked with that croc-embossed leather was, not so much of a challenge, but we had to be really intentional about how I wanted to use it,” he explains. “Sometimes things can come across a little bit boxy, so that’s why we really wanted to rely on strong tailoring to make it feel very sexy, chic and modern.”

The material composes outerwear, mini skirts and belted bikinis alike. It adds tasteful drama to trench coats and wide-leg trousers. On some skirts, the embossed leather is manipulated to create a sarong-like silhouette.

“I love leather. I love texture, I love fabric. I love textile, and I had a lot of fun with it,” he says.

Corsets, already one of the biggest trends from the Spring 2024 runways, are crafted in denim with zippers for boning. Sheer bodysuits unveil skin underneath. Patent leathers (practically a signature for the designer) are fashioned into hot Barbie-pink cargo pants and moto jackets. A fully beaded halter top blurs the line between apparel and jewelry. Color, meanwhile, takes pieces from mature to playful. Airy, spring-y hues like Glacier blue and kiwi green mix with more low-key plums and olive greens.

“This collection is for the bold and the nasty, and she is excited about going out,” he says of next season’s riveting looks.

LaQuan Smith shows are always memorable, whether it’s because of an iconic location (like Spring 2022 at the top of the Empire State Building) or star-studded front row. Monday night’s was no different. Hip-hop legends like Babyface and Mary J. Blige sat front row. Laverne Cox and Coco Jones joined in fabulous get-ups.

Keep scrolling to see every look from LaQuan Smith’s Spring 2024 collection.