LaQuan Smith’s Fall 2026 Proves Fashion Is Obsessed With Dangerous Glamour Again
By Alexus Mosley
Fashion is officially in her villain era again, and LaQuan Smith’s Fall 2026 collection is the living proof. At his Long Island City headquarters, Smith previewed a lineup that felt much like a costume fitting for a film about women who live fast and leave a dangerous trail of intrigue behind them while dressing stylishly. Fashion’s cinematic return to the femme fatale, if you will. Think cinematic glamour, noir energy, that isn’t afraid to be seductive.
While real fur is off the table thanks to industry bans, Smith wasn’t about to let his love for animal skins be censored into submission. Shearling became his workaround, treated like an arctic fox and used to line hulking jackets and trim the hems of ivory shifts. One model, teased bouffant sky-high, evoked a Jackie Kennedy silhouette, but Smith’s muse was far less demure, with his reference point being James Bond.
That Bond girl fantasy ran through the collection like a high-speed chase. Swaggy Sean Connery-era tailoring met lingerie-coded styling, with one of the show’s most playful moments being a bow-tie fashioned into a bikini top. Conjuring the mythology of iconic Bond women like Honeychile Ryder and Jinx, the inspiration was the ideology of women who move through the world with dangerous confidence, slipping into powerful personas at will. In one moment, she’s running an organized crime ring in a crimson velvet pantsuit and naval-grazing blouse. In another, she’s leaping off the Eiffel Tower in an Alaïa-esque leather mini with zipper tracks zigzagging like a car chase through Paris. These were designed for wherever a license to kill, looks-wise, is required.
Smith has been vocal about wanting to move beyond what he calls the “catsuit thing,” signaling a desire to explore more commercial avenues without sacrificing his signature sex appeal. Accessories, like sunglasses developed with Barton Perreira, offer a new entry point into his world of divadom while lingerie, with its lace trims and strategic inserts, feels like a natural extension of the brand’s seductive DNA.
Ultimately, LaQuan Smith’s Fall 2026 reflects the fact that after years of “quiet luxury” and muted minimalism, fashion is craving drama again. Everyone is obsessed with dangerous glamour. The femme fatale and noir heiress of it all. And LaQuan Smith isn’t just flirting with that obsession, but fully committed.