Meet Charles Smith II, the Dallas Designer Taking Fashion to the Dark Side

Smith quit basketball—he was an NBA D-league player—at 23 yrs previous to go after layout entire time. He began his luxury label SMITH II in 2012 and the streetwear line Do Not Touch in 2016, and begun staging runway demonstrates in 2013. McQueen’s visible language is generally integrated into the two lines, which embrace black as a principal colour when using text expressing sardonic views on death, identification, and personalized space. Notably, his patterns have been worn by the likes of Solange Knowles and Zoe Kravitz. Smith describes his aesthetic as “street chic that embodies power, elegance, lifestyle, tunes, craftsmanship. It is about viewing a thing acquainted and using it ideal side up and flipping it upside down to see anything new. This could be a tiny depth or experimental silhouette.” The consequence are significant-conclusion, conceptual seems to be that fuse demi couture with stark minimalism.

For Do Not Contact, Smith was impressed by Trayvon Martin and wanted to use style to enrich the sanctity of Black lives. “You go to any museum, the phrase “do not touch the artwork,” is there, keeping the art to the maximum amount of delicacy,” he claimed. “That’s the identical way we really should treat human lives, specially Black life. Mainly because our life are constantly currently being taken in these outrageous ways.” The outfits liberally characteristic the slogan, which also applies to ladies. “Men are generally grabbing, touching, and cat-calling you,” he reported. “When you examine that phrase, it can make you assume twice about your technique to anything at all. So when you see “Do Not Touch” on a hoodie with the destructive area, strolling toward me, you will have an understanding of what I’m indicating without me even expressing it.”