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LAQUAN SMITH BEFORE THE SHOW AT IFF PORTO MONTENEGRO 2018: I create for a powerful and sexy woman
American designer LaQuan Smith presented its collection for Fall/Winter 2018 in ,,Synchro” during the first International fashion festival Porto Montenegro 2018.
We spoke to him before the show about the collection, work and life in the beautiful setting of Yacht club Porto Montenegro.
How do you like the hospitality of Porto Montenegro and hotel ,,Regent”?
– I think it’s amazing. I love the hospitality, everyone is so sweet and generous.
This is not your first time to be in Montenegro nor your first time to work with Vesna Mandić and ,,Fabrika”. Nevertheless, how much did the invitation to present your collection at the first edition of International fashion festival Porto Montenegro 2018. mean to you?
– I think it is a great deal. It is important to expend and to grow my brand, to showcase my collections to different markets out there in the world. I am happy and I’m honoured to be here.
Association to your collection Fall/Winter 2018that you will be presenting here is powerful and sexy. What type of woman you create for?
– Exactly what you said – powerful and very sexy woman, confident, the one who is completely unapologetic, very sensual and just possesses a certain attitude. I think every woman can be inspired by.
You said that your Fall/Winter 2018 collection is inspired by Studio 54, disco divas and the 80s. Do you know someone who went to Studio 54?
– Not personally, but I think guests were Grace Jones, Jerry Hall, Tina Turner, all those women. I just took the full inspiration from that, from those icons.
You said working with Beyonce was liberating. In what way?
– She’s a very influential woman. I think the creative process is intense. You wanna make sure that she is happy. Obviously, it is great for exposure. I think she just believes in me and she supported me as a designer. She really loves my clothes. I am able to sort of have the creative freedom to design for Beyonce.
What was it like growing up in Queens and creating fashion there?
– It was tough. I don’t come from money or anything, so the advantages that I had were very limited. It was also inspiring at the same time. There a lot of legends from Queens. It’s just this hip-hop nostalgic culture that resonates in the city of Queens. There is also a very jazzy vibe about Queens, so it’s all those elements that I had been incorporating into my collections. I think that’s the most inspiring thing in the world.
You said: ,,I had a perspective of how a woman should dress that wasn’t being represented.” What way is that?
– I think what now is popular is sportswear. Women don’t dress like that anymore, in my opinion. Women used to really dress up. That doesn’t happen anymore. I am representing the certain type of woman who does put an effort to be able to dress up and does an effort to be able to present herself in a very specific way that takes effort, time and strategy, I guess. Women sometimes just wear leggings and sweatsuits and there is no effort, no thought put into it.
Bojana Radonjić
Photo: Boris Šekularac
