On one of the last evenings of New York Fashion Week, Laquan Smith managed to turn a graffiti tattered Bushwick warehouse into a “animalistically glamorous” runway for their Spring/Summer 2025 show for the brand’s newest collection titled ‘Lucid Dreams’. The signature sex-appeal was not missing from the lineup, which decorated mostly bare skin with sheer laces of yellows, chartreuse, and snake prints for a vibrant pop in a dark room. Inspired by sleepwear, Smith created a hauntingly beautiful collection of pieces that blend comfort with high fashion.

Often lounge-wear is overlooked in its skillset, but Smith’s use of simple draw strings and flowing silk achieves a body sculpting fit that most people can pull off. The simplicity of a sheer trench coat on a “Laquan Girl” like Winnie Harlow, has proven true to the phrase that less is more. In this latest showing, models floated down the runway wearing shirts made of thin rhinestoned ribbons that give a distressed minimalist punch, as it reflects off the Bushwick warehouse lights. 

With a score produced by local artist and VMAN’s latest subject Mazurbate, the closing model is a “bride”, but she only wears a form-fitted leotard, and super long sheer tulle (in true Laquan fashion). The song “American Women” shakes the venue as the man of the hour himself does a final bow. There was an undeniable sense of wealth in the way Smith styled this season, and to bring this elegance to a dead end corner in Bushwick was definitely a conversation on the power of individualism as Black and Brown Americans. It was hard to not leave the venue feeling like one of the “cool kids”, but it was because Laquan gave us tools to feel as such. “Lucid Dreams” is a testament to the phrase “Dont dream it, be it”.

Backstage photographer Maxwell Vice takes a more intimate look at Laquan Smith’s latest collection, below!