Her Ye days may be over, but Julia Fox just made her NYFW debut with LaQuan Smith

Valentine’s Day went without another highly publicized appearance from Kanye “Ye” West and model-actress Julia Fox. In fact, quite the contrary, as Fox confirmed the unexpected pairing had come to an equally abrupt end after only a month. Via a now-deleted Instagram Story captured and retweeted by Pop Crave, Fox claimed there was no love lost, only a come-up found.

“Why not see me for what I am which is a #1 hustler,” she wrote, per Page Six. “I came up [y’all] lol and not only that but Kanye and I are on good terms! I have love for him but I wasn’t in love w the man Jesus Christ what do u guys think I am 12 years old?!”

Proving her point, as others celebrated the lovers’ holiday on Monday night—and Ye sent a truckload of roses to his soon-to-be-ex-wife, according to Page Six—Fox celebrated yet another come-up. Opening her very first show as a model at New York Fashion Week, she walked the runway for LaQuan Smith’s Fall/Winter ’22-’23 presentation wearing a black gown from the designer’s skintight and strategically cutout collection.

It was an undeniable stunt, one Smith told Women’s Wear Daily he was more than happy to orchestrate, noting his alliance with Fox is longstanding. “Julia has been my girl from Day One,” he explained in an exclusive interview with the outlet.

“Julia has been so supportive of me from my early days,” Smith told WWD. “She always comes to me for a nasty catsuit for a night out on the town and it just felt kind of pressy and gaggy and I was like, ‘let’s just do it.’ It’s not far-fetched.”

“People anticipate coming to a LaQuan Smith show for a gag kind of moment, a little excitement,” he added. “I was like now is the perfect time to do it—let’s just throw her in there. She looks incredible, and I’m like I just want to have fun with it.”

Whether or not fashion lovers found Fox’s appearance exciting remains up for debate. But as for the remainder of Smith’s collection for Fall/Winter ’22-’23 (since that’s what we’re really here for this week), the looks remained consistent with the designer’s well-established, uber-sexy aesthetic.

Barely-there bandage-style dresses walked the runway alongside cropped shearlings and voluminous tops, disco-ready gowns, and slinky jumpsuits—as well as Smith’s take on the extreme low-rise waistline and attendant exposed thong. The entire show can be viewed in full below, captured by IMAXtree.tv.

Maiysha Kai is Lifestyle Editor of theGrio, covering all things Black and beautiful. Her work is informed by two decades’ experience in the fashion and entertainment industries, a love of great books and aesthetics, and the indomitable brilliance of Black culture. She is also the editor of the YA anthology Body (Words of Change series).

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