Zuhair Murad (Q3747)
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Zuhair Murad is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Zuhair Murad |
Zuhair Murad is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The sea is shaping up to be one of spring’s major currents. In Zuhair Murad’s hands, it transforms women into the handmaidens of Venus, served up on the half-shell.Part human and part anemone, these demi-goddesses emerge clad in flowing jersey, cady, or English eyelet. Elements swept from the deep pop up in starfish embroideries or incrustations of shells and baroque pearls, for example on an easy black top with fluid pants. A wisp of a white handkerchief halter came in eyelet, while a series of poplin bralettes and voluminous dresses featured a lovely Italianate print. A black gown with rococo embroideries looked like a keeper; elsewhere, precious-looking beaded, sequined trim suggested a sailor’s rope and hammered satin was worked to resemble the movement and sheen of water. Geometric sequins eddied over a gray halter dress, a shift spliced by cut-outs, or a youthful white two-piece ensemble with a crop top and long skirt. Lacy cord embroidery anchored by stylized initials caught the graceful drift of algae. Several of the more pared-back ideas here will likely prove timeless.The designer also has been leaning into sharp tailoring of late, and here he showed admirable restraint by keeping the embellishments to negative space, as on a blush suit or a series in black. But if it’s a game of transparency his ladies are after, he’s got them covered, too, in black or white lace, at times with corsetry details, or (more modestly) strategically placed swaths inserted into breezy silk satin numbers.Murad’s ladies always dress to shine, but especially so by night, on the red carpet, at weddings, and wherever else they may alight. Here, he offered up draped, pleated, and lamé goddess dresses in a lush and universally flattering palette from champagne to caviar, with lashings of sunrise/sunset hues like apricot, coral, russet, silver, and bronze.
2 October 2024
In a departure, fall couture found Zuhair Murad in a contemplative mood. Where often he gives into the temptations of over-embellishment, here the designer instead said he was thinking about women relative to their days, weeks, and years. By plumbing philosophical and psychological states, he sought to conjure a rawer, edgier kind of beauty.“Going deeper is very new,” the designer allowed backstage in the minutes before the show. “I’m used to immersing collections in nature or culture, but now I felt it was more pertinent to delve into a woman’s character, and what she lives every day.” Such reflections might elicit fluctuations by the hour or over the arc of a lifetime.School and friends, love stories and expectations, emotion and reaction are all a part of the mix. “Sometimes she’s serene, sometimes she’s emotional, sometimes she’s a little crazy—but she’s passionate about her life and she wants to enjoy it. That’s the woman I want to talk about with this collection,” he offered.The runway revealed a broader range than usual. An opening top heavily embroidered in pearls and a fully beaded pantsuit that swished and clattered as the model walked were meant to be as uplifting and distracting as a glass of champagne. That notion continued in various iterations of gradient embellishment, for example in gold, copper, and pearlescent beads cast against transparent tulle or shiny, fully sequined black beaded numbers. Further along, a funnel-neck jacket embroidered with shards stood out in a series that looked moody and a bit rock-and-roll: yes, it was luxe, but it had grit. Other numbers, among them a crimson halter gown or a caped violet dress, were slashed in a way that suggested what the designer described as “a lioness who carries the scars of a life and emerges all the stronger.”Murad hardly considers himself a psychologist—that’s an entirely different domain—but his musings about transforming and elevating past trials and tribulations made for a thoughtful collection. If ever a desire to smash things to smithereens becomes too overwhelming to repress, Murad just wants his ladies to know that he’s on hand to pick up the pieces and turn it into something eye-catching to wear.
28 June 2024
Whether she’s a planner or a last-minute dresser, the Zuhair Murad woman comes to life at night: She has a heavy social schedule and knows the designer has her covered.With his resort collection, Murad dug into his arsenal and came up with lots of high shine: His stylized monogram cropped up in starburst form, silvery tweed was adorned with jewellike framed monogram buttons, and silver sequins showered over a gown that was high-impact yet surprisingly lightweight.The designer—a history buff and inveterate traveler—decided to throw a little Mediterranean antiquity into the mix, as if he were plucking a freshly unearthed ceramic or a fresco from Pompeii and turning it into an evening gown. Ordinarily, prints are not Murad’s strong suit, but some of these pieces suggested the patina of time with conviction, perhaps in gold leaf on jacquard, embroidery on a long-sleeve minidress, or a sleeveless white gown with a draped, twisted halter top.Elsewhere, Murad offered up a number of looks that went light on embellishment and looked stronger for it. A couple of draped black gowns come to mind, as does a burned coral number with a jeweled shoulder and plunging back. Even some of the jersey lamé goddess dresses looked like they could stand the test of time. That in itself is a feat.
17 June 2024
“I love roses because they can mean so many things: romance, mystery, sexiness… there’s a lot of subtext there,” Zuhair Murad offered during a showroom preview for fall.With its rich, somber palette, lush fabrics and intricate embroideries, the lineup unfolded like a sort of fantasy stroll through a secret garden by night. The designer continues to expand his repertoire in tweed, adding rose appliqués in black embroidered leather to jackets, miniskirts and shift tresses with dusky jewel undertones. A black wool coat received the same treatment. Speaking of leather, it was reintegrated into the line this season, for example as black high-waisted, wide-legged trousers.Ornate workmanship on mixed media gowns in velvet, silk and lace with cut-out details, creeping rose appliqués dense with scarlet sequins, and black numbers ticked out with crystal spider webs pushed this theme to the extreme. Diaphanous capes revealed embroideries so lavish they appeared to defy gravity. But the queen of flowers looked more modern when treated with a lighter touch, for example in black beading on a long-sleeved short white dress. Elsewhere, a bustier with a velvet bodice and a skirt with dévoré blooms, or in deep burgundy jacquard on a black ground, carried a whiff of old Hollywood.Jersey dresses with leather trim at the neck or waist and an unembellished jacket in black velvet looked, like the leather trousers, well-suited to an era of minimalist dressing and attention to sartorial longevity. In that vein, this season will find Murad expanding his brand of glamour into body-positive—not to mention more accessible—territory with a 13-piece capsule collection for Marina Rinaldi.
4 March 2024
Zuhair Murad often looks to his travels for inspiration, but for this couture outing celebrating Phoenician heritage, his primary references were museum collections and the internet.“I had to go back to the roots of civilization, and it was hard to source because you don’t find things. The war between the Greeks and Romans ruined everything,” he said after his show. Challenges aside, this collection—informed by a love of the sea, Greco-Roman culture, trade among Mediterranean nations and art—represented a departure, and a more modern one at that. For one, there were no princess dresses, and no bridal gown finale. In their stead came exercises in draping, silhouettes with big shoulders and low waists, and latter-day iterations of Astarte (goddess of war and sexual love), Elissa (first queen of Phoenicia), Tanit (chief deity of ancient Carthage), and Europa, clad in copper, bronze, silver ,and gold (a nod to early commerce) as well as sunset hues of pink or blue.A one-shouldered wine-colored dress, another homage to ancient trade, was eye-catching for its draped, pleated bodice. A dress in white macramé, featuring grape clusters and beading, offered another ode to commerce. Heavily sequined numbers in sunset colors were informed by ancient mosaics housed in the National Museum of Beirut, among others.Murad isn’t shy about putting women on a pedestal. “Couture is an art, and I love putting women in a place like that,” he said.“They look sexy, beautiful, untouchable.” At the same time, he noted, true goddesses had real curves. “They were powerful, but most of all they were smart,” he offered. “I want women to feel okay with their body.” He’ll have more to say on that precise subject in a month or so.
26 January 2024
With his pre-fall collection, Zuhair Murad tuned into the music of the night. Picking up where his couture collection left off, the designer leaned into the concept of fly-by-night butterflies, lavishing saturated color and goth-tinged mystery on gossamer shapes for creatures that tend to rouse once the stars are out.One of the season’s new developments was printed faille, worked into a full-length gown. Classic shapes and materials took on striking embroideries and prints: an animalistic motif was extrapolated from wings magnified to the nth degree, while a cotton poplin was covered, tie-dye style, with inky butterflies. Mini-dresses are appliquéd with 3D monarchs; elsewhere, a swarm alights on a classic coat, and arty mismatched buttons illuminated a structured jacket or a fitted skirt.The designer experimented with lurex wools, giving them a denim-like treatment embellished with domed crystal buttons. Jackets were edged and darted with winking crystals, ditto trousers and bustiers. He flexed his range by offering diaphanous takes on naked dressing (in embroidered mesh with an integrated corset) on the one hand and, on the other, his stalwart taffeta gowns. In between, there were workwear-inspired numbers in white cotton poplin embellished with elements in black guipure, a fuchsia wool silk jacquard with the new ZM monogram that skews quasi-houndstooth, cady dresses with macramé rosettes, and easy champagne beige caftans. Silky draped jersey numbers in jewel tones—asymmetrical, off-the-shoulder, hourglass—should find plenty of takers.Murad continues to collaborate with Taylor Swift on her world tour, which means that he has plenty of room yet to play with light and shadow, color and sparkle, and keep the fantasy going.
8 January 2024
For spring, Zuhair Murad moved cross-country from Los Angeles to Miami, that other coastal hotspot of eternal summer and nonstop socializing.In keeping with current trends both sartorial and meteorological, he kept things light, ethereal and revealing, with plunging necklines and strategic cut-outs anchored by bejeweled palm tree brooches. Seventies and Pop influences informed ensembles like a mint green sequined dress with flowers and matching cape, sparkly caftans, and fuchsia or shamrock green shift dresses with lace-up details. English lace was worked both saucy (in a corseted bustier) and sweet. Summer knits like a white tube dress, long dresses in daisy chain macramé, and a chiffon gown in blue-to-green dégradé channeled sultry nights by the sea.Since he’s toying with Americana, Murad included denim, treated in a dark wash and lavished with appliqués of abstracted crystal flowers on a bustier dress, pants, and jacket. Here and elsewhere, his embellishments showed relative restraint, for example on a black halter-neck gown with a splay of colorful bird’s tongue sequins on the bodice. But the designer also seemed to be having fun playing on classic Parisian tropes, notably those of the Rue Cambon, with a ladylike black dress or suiting in summer-weight cotton tweed trimmed with lashings of pearls and bowed ribbons.Red carpet dressing is a Murad stock-in-trade. This season there were plenty of contenders, among them a column dress fully embroidered with mirror sequins and crystals, a red number complete with gloves, and looks in burnished gold that evoked both old Hollywood and its most famous statuette.Murad is in an enviable position: His ladies will follow him anywhere. He’s an inveterate traveler with much to say. Now seems as good a time as any to strike out for someplace new.
2 October 2023
The color black is not exactly a novelty in fashion. But for Zuhair Murad, it is: he’s known best for his vibrant use of saturated tones and embellishment, with previous collections finding extravagant inspiration in the ’70s French Riviera or Belle Epoque era. So when his couture featured clothes in a dark, moody palette, it trulydidfeel like a notable departure for the Lebanese designer.“The entire mood of the collection is gothic,” Murad said. “I went back to the era of mysterious work—abandoned mansions and dark nights.” Indeed, many models walking down the runway felt like modern Edgar Allan Poe muses in their gowns with peekabo lace corsets, cage skirts, or raven-like feather embellishments.The collection contained plenty of other references to mysterious creatures of the night: silver detailing similar to moth wings, spider web-like embroidery, and tulle bows as well as necklines that resembled the silhouette of a bat. A leather trench coat, meanwhile, was dotted with arachnid studs.Another recurring motif was a macabre rose, which adorned the finale look of a wedding dress. “The rose was a very important element in the collection. It’s a symbol of romance and tragedy at the same time,” said Murad.Many of the materials Murad embraced were new to his couture line: he used latex for bodices and gloves, and some dresses came in a draped jersey. (In these jersey pieces, said the designer, he wanted to explore high-end simplicity.)Whereas some pieces felt like they veered from couture into costume, Murad’s intricate black lace work stood out as sensually stylish. Wednesday Addams would wear them, sure, but so perhaps would Poe’s “rare and radiant maiden.” And—by the number of phones that went up when they walked by—so would a number of the audience members themselves.
5 July 2023
Zuhair Murad has stars in his eyes. One is Taylor Swift, with whom he has collaborated since last fall. But for resort the designer turned his attention to two of Hollywood’s brightest from the past: Joan Crawford and Raquel Welch. Drawing liberally on Crawford and Welch’s super-sexy heydays, he offered up a collection that he conceived as part 1920s-inflected opulence, part ’70s sultry, with a few motifs that nod to Art Deco icons like New York’s Chrysler and Empire State buildings for good measure. (A closer look confirms that his initials are part of the mix too.)Somewhat unexpectedly, many of these looks find Murad in a relatively minimalistic mode, as though he had resolved to let bold color—fuchsia, periwinkle, yellow—and negative space do the talking, perhaps with an assist from a few sparkly coils of diamanté. Mixes of macramé and lace are treated tonally—for example, on a yellow off-the-shoulder bohemian dress or a faux-prim white dress with long sleeves, a tiered skirt, and a lavaliere collar.Though you can’t see it here, many of these looks are intended to make not only a dramatic entrance but also a theatrical exit thanks to backless cuts. In case anyone needs a little extra cover, Murad also threw in a sharp-looking trench this season—that piece is a new exercise for him and one that his clients in northerly climes will no doubt appreciate.
28 June 2023
This season, Zuhair Murad headed to the circus. Not literally: It’s more that the Beirut-based designer used the ribbons, bows, rings, metal balls and other trappings of jugglers, clowns, serpent ladies and acrobats to express kinetic energy and pay homage to “bold and inspiring women living in powerful bodies.” He also gleaned inspiration from late artist Niki de Saint Phalle, whose convention-flouting Nanas sculptures are all about color, curves and body positivity.Filtered through Murad’s prism, the diamond shapes traditionally associated with acrobats—also a salient motif in menswear next season—came in black and white or cut-outs, perhaps on ’60s shapes. Silhouettes in black cady—a jumpsuit, a wisp of a bolero, a long column dress with a cheeky dip in back—were etched with jewel-tone crystal trim. Lingerie inspirations came through in tulle evening numbers, worn with or without a cape.This season marked the first time that Murad ventured into tweed, rendered here in dark-hued mini-dresses and skirts with leopard prints or python motifs. Zebras and tigers were here, too, in gold on black velvet and lace, or evoked in a shower of silver sequins on the shoulders of a jacket. Bonbon-shiny dresses in pleated lamé are a favorite among Murad’s base; this season they kept company with wrap dresses whose ring details nodded to the trapeze artist’s essential accessory, now encrusted with diamanté. Body-hugging stretch knits were another new addition to the Murad repertoire, likewise shaggy, two-tone faux furs, either long or short.Not all of these will be destined for the red carpet. After all, nowadays stars are hewing to simpler looks, sans extra flourishes—to wit, Jessica Chastain donned a taffeta fuchsia number for the recent SAG Awards. But Murad’s base is dressing up again, and often: their social calendar is the real three-ring circus here, as the recent soft opening of his fourth boutique, in Qatar, attests. For fall, Murad had their balancing act covered.
5 March 2023
Tonight’s couture outing at the Hôtel Potocki in Paris proved beyond a doubt that Zuhair Murad’s popularity has swelled to a point that, even from the front row, one is most likely to glimpse the clothes first through a neighbor’s iPhone. Like a Pavlovian response, a phalanx of new-gen customers—not just women, and all dressed, befurred, and bejeweled to the nines—raised a screen with every passage.After the show, Murad spoke of Belle Epoque inspirations culled mostly from the glory days of the French Riviera, circa 1970. “It was a time of parties, beautiful celebrations, and sunset colors,” the designer commented amid an onslaught of well-wishers. In his show notes, he nodded to “a new generation of heiresses [who] breathe life back into their family heritage,” with riffs on the ’20s and “the freedom of azure and gold days filled with laughter, secrets, and sensuality (...) the remnant of nightlife from a bygone era.”Murad channeled the “romantic sexy” gaiety of light materials such as tulle, chiffon, and draped jersey, with extras like beaded fringe and pearl-studded interpretations of macramé. Haute peignoirs reminiscent of Hollywood’s golden era were embellished with cascades of crystals, tonal embroideries, and feathers. Some red carpet numbers, notably pleated and draped gowns in Mediterranean blue, lime green, or hot yellow were accessorized with Murad’s take on jewels handed down through generations. While some rang a bit scanty for real-life occasions, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some designs—a white halter neck gown, a draped silver dress, mandarin orange and hot fuchsia sequin numbers—crop up at the Oscars in just a few weeks’ time. The bridal gown—made with no crinoline, crystals or shine, but lots of macramé embroidery—was a departure for Murad. While that’s a bit out of character, from the front row it looked like it would find plenty of traction.
25 January 2023
For prefall, Zuhair Murad ventured into unexpected territory with an unorthodox pairing: the ’60s-era interior decorator Dorothy Draper andAlice in Wonderland.Sounds wild, but it’s not as far-fetched as it seems. Murad found a kindred spirit in Draper, a committed anti-minimalist who defined the Hollywood Regency style with riots of bold color, baroque flourishes, large-scale prints, and mirrors everywhere. For the designer, her freewheeling ways with pattern, texture, and scale naturally broughtAliceto mind, and he duly showered this collection with chromatic hearts and diamonds on tulle, lace, and duchesse satin. Three-dimensional effects took pride of place, in macramé mixed with red velvet, diamanté motifs on black velvet, and skin-baring appliqués or cutouts. For floral lovers, amped-up roses appeared in a lush black-and-white-and-saffron print on silk charmeuse.That said, Murad exercised restraint in several instances: Lilac did the talking on a bustier gown in lustrous taffeta, an apple green ballerina dress was embellished simply with slender bows, and black T-shirt shapes were judiciously garlanded with sparkly appliqués at the neckline or sleeves. Meanwhile, he gave his sense of humor free rein on evening and red-carpet looks, charmingly on a gown with a black velvet bodice and a heart-and-diamond-embroidered lilac skirt. And while heart pockets and placements on the breasts may not be the designer’s strongest play, they speak to his love for his client base. Murad admires strong women, and here he brought to life an array of characters—the well-mannered Alice, the indomitable Queen of Hearts, and (standing in for the White Rabbit) the sultry Jessica Rabbit—and welcomed them all to his party. In these diverse and empowered times, that’s key.
3 January 2023
Grim headlines be damned, Zuhair Murad’s customers are craving pink—the hue worked so well for resort that it was back in force for spring, in solids and prints inspired by natural wonders like Rainbow Mountain in Peru or the Salt Domes of Zagros in Iran as captured by German aerial photographer Tom Hegen.But while Murad’s silhouettes may have been inspired by rock formations sculpted by the wind since time immemorial, the couturier’s through line is freedom of body and spirit. For spring, he channeled that mood through new fabrics and treatments, such as micro-pleated printed organza trimmed with lace at the neckline, or otherwise unadorned draped and pleated satin.The designer also drew an equation betweenflouand freedom, and what he dialed back in ornamentation he made up for in mash-ups, like splicing lacquer-finished lace with mesh, mixing chiffon with waves of stand-up lace, or—more conservatively—showering an ethereal ecru gown with 3D flowers in re-embroidered silk thread. And in the name of freedom, Murad even joined the bralette bandwagon—not his usual style, but the designer is nothing if not clear-sighted about what his younger base wants to wear.For evening, dresses were molded to the body, their cutouts trimmed in strass. A black jacket, sharply tailored in front, was backless on the flip side. A fuchsia taffeta jacket embroidered with tonal flowers came with matching shorts. Anchoring a draped white jersey dress was a new totem laden with symbolism: a gold-finished phoenix rising from the ashes.Even so, embellishments—some restrained, others not so much—made a strong statement for evening. Gradient beading showered down bustlines; a ’70s-inflected minidress sported a fireworks display of sequins; and russet or slate blue evening numbers channeledThe Great Gatsbyby way of Murad, sassy fringe and all. Those plus a bronze bustier dress with rays of sequins, for example, will probably land on the red carpet come awards season, right around the time Murad inaugurates his third boutique, in Doha.
2 October 2022
Maybe because the world isn’t exactly in ship shape and reality isn’t very uplifting, Zuhair Murad thought it wise to take refuge in the supernatural this season, putting planets and the horoscopes to work, and asking the stars to provide us all with a luckier future. His couture collection was inspired by symbols of esoteric spirituality and by the magic of the cosmos.Murad believes in the power of couture as a conspirator (albeit quite an expensive one) to attract love, fortune, andbien être. A beautiful dress can enhance charm and charisma, and he provided plenty of flamboyant options to make a woman the center of attention. Tarot cards were embroidered on a shapely shift with revealing high slits, or on a midriff-baring cropped jacket paired with a tight-fitting longuette skirt. The signs of the Zodiac were rendered as crystal-studded appliqués gathering the draping of a sumptuous geranium red ball gown, or were embroidered in sequins onto the circle skirt of an evening dress with a black velvet bodice. Snakes, which apparently are symbols of health and vigor, were woven in golden threads through the tulle bodice of a long sheath gown in nocturnal blue velvet; a glamorous number in silver mesh was embroidered with myriad eyes, which are considered the spiritual window to the soul.Elsewhere, Murad riffed on more sensual notes, playing on revealing fluid draping, as in a series of emerald green or Klein blue headturners with high-cut wrap skirts, billowy capes, feather-trimmed stoles, and criss-cross midriff-baring tops. Sashaying into a party clad in one of those is likely to make the stars align with much benevolence.
6 July 2022
Zuhair Murad’s colorful, bohemian-inflected resort collection takes its cues from unbridled nature, luminous flora, and idyllic landscapes, with selected borrowings from two abstract artists: Virginia Jaramillo, an American-born painter of Mexican heritage, and the Italian painter Carla Accardi.Bending those elements to his will, the designer offered a broad collection focused on high color and movement, with plays on transparency, negative space, and sparkle meant to evoke the shifting reflections of light on the sea.There’s a lot to unpack in these 80-odd pieces. Shirred dresses in peony pink, anise, and violet jersey came with dramatic cut-outs and wraparound ties studded with crystals or strass elements reprising the designer’s initials. Lamé sequined dresses in Barbie-bright pink or tangerine put body-con front and center. Gunmetal crystals shimmered on a transparent mesh column dress. A jeweled bralette offered a haute take on that trend, bringing the sass to a very (very) off-the-shoulder draped evening dress.Murad used multiple kinds of lace as well as rare couture and contemporary embroidery techniques to amp up transparency and texture on evening numbers while, on the other hand, splicing tailored pieces together with trios of gold piercings that let slivers of skin peek through. More covered-up skirts and trousers in cady were engineered with zippers that opened to reveal pleated chiffon details. Slightly harder to pull off were the bouffante-sleeved off-the-shoulder numbers but, like those deeply cut-out dresses, they may appeal to a demographic too young to remember the 1980s.True to form, any number of these flowing, sequined, fringed, and flounced numbers looked red-carpet and reception-ready. But the draped satin number Mila Kunis wore to the Oscars has resulted in a fresh wave of interest in the designer’s less-embellished looks. On that note, the white cape dress with jeweled details around the shoulders and neck was all that, and universally flattering too.
30 June 2022
Zuhair Murad couldn’t make it to Paris for Fashion Week, so his fall presentation was a quiet showroom affair. However, traveling was very much on his mind, and the collection was inspired by wanderlust and a bohemian nomadic flair.Glamorous eveningwear is always at the core of Murad’s collections, and he offered plenty of resplendent options here. Prints and embroideries had a touch of the exotic; rendered in geometric motifs in a vivid palette, they brightened a flowy black chiffon caftan worn over palazzo pants, or trimmed a cashmere cape, which looked chic paired with a matching wrap skirt.Dramatic long evening dresses in black chiffon were speckled with gold fil coupé, with plays of flowy, high-slit plissé panels enhancing the sense of movement; sexy see-through numbers were patchworked with elaborate lace and macramé intarsia, trimmed with feathers and bejeweled with crystals. The dark palette of blacks and midnight blues was brightened by sumptuous tones of cobalt, coral, and emerald.
4 March 2022
Zuhair Murad is a die-hard romantic. He believes couture is a dreamland, inhabited by creatures of beauty. “We need to dream, today more than ever,” he said, Zooming from his atelier in Paris. “We need to travel with our imagination, to forget a little about ourselves and the hardships our reality is putting us through.” As for all romantics, telling extravagant stories suspended beyond time is a way of finding a new life in dreams.What inspired his couture collection were visions of Byron-esque 18th-century pirates, roaming the high seas chasing chimeras of lost treasures. Yet the pirates walking the catwalk of a gilded salon in Paris today certainly didn’t look worn out by years spent on insalubrious galleons. Rather they brought to mind exquisitely ethereal presences, clad in sumptuoustenues de soiréefit for grand entrances or bedecked in clouds of tulle tattooed with replicas of old nautical charts and constellations and tightly corseted in tangles of pearls and aged-gold chains.“My clients are eager to go back to events and celebrations,” he said. “Even if there are less occasions than before, losing hope in the future isn’t an option for me.” No one is more entitled to refer to hope and resilience than Murad, who has bounced back from the fire that in 2020 destroyed his atelier in Beirut and is ready to relocate to a restored new space in the next few months.To lift the spirits of the many women he dresses, Murad offered a plethora of flamboyant, sensual concoctions: Gowns in finely pleated organza had pouf-sleeve, cropped brassieres; lamé fabrics were turned into sunray-pleated miniskirts; flows of shimmering tulle and chiffon spiraled around shorts or veiled the sensuous bodices of mermaid-like evening dresses dripping in sequins; and intricacies of knotted chiffon and embroidered brocades were embedded with jewels and beads. “My pirates are adventurous women, looking for the treasures of life,” he said. “They might be dreaming of love, or perhaps they’re dreaming of a future full of joy and courage.”
26 January 2022
Zuhair Murad was born under a wandering star; no matter how confined or challenging the circumstances, in his mind’s eye he’s got tickets in hand and he’s ready to fly.Though he’s never been to the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas, for pre-fall emancipation comes from the lure of wide-open spaces in general, and the American West in particular. That’s a new one for Murad. Through a spokeswoman, he explained that he was exploring relaxation in his own way. He expanded his repertoire accordingly, gamely incorporating materials like denim and jersey.Working in a few riffs on Victoriana along the way, Murad let his spirit roam free, but in terms of silhouettes and embellishments, the playbook remains recognizably his own. Denim—not a material normally associated with his world—came in almost-black midnight blue embellished with laser-cut white leather details on the bodice, for example on a jumpsuit with wide flared legs or a sundress style with corset-like topstitching.Back in his comfort zone, a long white dress mixed laces and dotted Swiss with a vegetal-inspired patch on tulle, a motif reprised in black and white on a tailored skirt suit cinched with a wide belt or a pleated halter dress, and in crystals on leather on an otherwise streamlined gown in black jersey.New developments include printed knitwear and trims in cotton thread, both produced on what the designer described as rare and fastidious machines. The result appears here in a handful of looks such as an emerald green off-the-shoulder dress or a scarlet crop top and skirt ensemble. Another flight of fancy: cow spots, worked in Moroccan crêpe and lace with beading, splashed over a tunic dress or a pussy bow blouse.Relaxed or not, Murad is a maximalist at heart, and his base will likely thrill to a colorful vegetal print on a lace-up caftan. That some of the gold, sequin, and crystal-encrusted numbers saunter more toward rodeo-fabulous is all part of the fun.
7 January 2022
By a stroke of sheer good fortune, Zuhair Murad and his entire staff were spared in last year’s blast in Beirut, which happened the day after lockdown rules were lifted. Resilience and optimism being in his nature, the designer forged ahead despite just about everything. He and his team hope to return to his newly restored headquarters by early next year. Meanwhile, steady international demand has kept the business even-keeled, a spokeswoman said.The Vidal Sassoon hairdos in this lookbook speak volumes about Murad’s mod mood for Spring. Imagining his collection like a promenade among the flowers and fountains of the Boboli Gardens in Florence or a balmy summer night in Rome, he focused on details of construction and craft. Revisiting lace in floral crochet was just one example; incorporating macramé details on a dress in dotted Swiss with pleated flourishes was another.In one unexpected association, Murad recast the safari jacket and a trench coat in lace; a retro-inflected dress with a shirt collar and patch pockets showed his efforts to lean into daywear. To that end, he also trimmed a crisp blazer and short ensemble, shown here in red, in gold chain.But evening and red carpet styles are always and forever the designer’s strongest suit. His reinterpretation in metallic pink fil coupé of the geometric layouts in formal Italian gardens made a modern statement in an outing otherwise steeped in romance. A cape-sleeved gown sprinkled with blue crystals on the sleeves and neckline, as well as a couple of dresses with a Rococo print, neatly caught the spirit. By contrast, a few of the gelati-hued numbers, notably in lavender and teal with wing-like shoulders and panels, seemed to teeter dangerously close to Barbie-land.
2 October 2021
One of the many terrible casualties of the explosion that devastated Beirut last year was Zuhair Murad’s historic atelier: “It was almost completely destroyed,” he said on a Zoom call from Paris. “My treasured archive went up in flames. I lost almost three-quarters of it, 20 years of work.” It was an unimaginable loss. Then the pandemic hit. “But here we are, ready to bounce back,” he said, sounding serene. “ Resilience is deeply ingrained in our culture.”Murad said that working on his couture collection made him feel happy and alive; it gave him purpose and strength: “I wanted to show it in a physical format as a celebration of renewal and hope,” he said. “My clients almost demanded it. They want to enjoy life, go out again, buy new pieces and look beautiful, resuming a sense of luxefastueux.”Lavishness and opulence are territories the designer navigates with consummate ease. To inspire his ode to unabashed splendor, Murad looked to Venice, where the stuff isn’t in short supply. The city provided the collection with a layered set of references: Its history and magnificence are deeply intertwined with Middle Eastern aesthetics. Through the centuries it has suffered invasions, destructions, plague, but it has always re-emerged resplendent, its magic intact. This spirit of resurgence was what appealed to Murad, who was also fascinated by the visuals of masked carnival balls.The collection, presented live in Paris to a small audience, was an endless stream of sumptuous gowns; Murad clearly revelled in guilt-free, bold glamour, revisiting his best-ofs with delight. Red-carpet-ready evening dresses were strewn with intricate embroideries and shimmered with crystal fringing in silver and gold. Ballooning taffeta capes were thrown over sinuous embellished numbers dripping in rhinestones, making for an appealing contrast between voluminous shapes and slim silhouettes. A palette of deep black was offset by jewel tones of emerald, ruby, and sapphire, giving the proceedings a lively, eye-catching appeal. “Women today crave to be out in the light,” he said. “They want to be on stage, they want the light shining on them, like that of chandeliers on a palazzo on the Grand Canal.”
7 July 2021
The desire to travel and resume social connections was the inspiration behind Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad’s resort offering. Beirut has been through extremely tough times lately; a future of renaissance and rebirth for the city and its creative community is what we all hope for.The collection referenced the ’60s and the ’70s, juxtaposing short, slim silhouettes with more romantic, flowing dresses. An ensemble comprising cropped pants and a scalloped-hem tunic in white cady would’ve looked chic onThe Queen’s Gambit’s Beth Harmon, as would’ve a sexy, sleek black minidress—the character was one of the collection’s inspirations. Ruffles and layered chiffon abounded on a series of long, billowing numbers in vibrant rainbow colors.Riffing on his glamorous repertoire, Murad offered a stunning series of black embellished evening dresses for party season. A plissé dress in black lace with intarsias and overlays in lasered cut-out vinyl looked lovely and youthful, while retaining a dramatic allure.
30 June 2021
Zuhair Murad’s spring couture outing is, by the designer’s own reckoning, the most emotionally charged collection he’s ever done because it speaks directly about his love of Lebanon. “For a while I’ve been torn up by intense feelings about this eternally troubled country. I finally realized how deeply rooted I am in this land, which I will never leave,” he wrote via email.The designer also noted that this collection is above all intended as a message of hope, crystallized through two steadfast symbols: Woman, on one hand and, on the other hand, the Lebanese cedar tree. The implication is that graceful appearances belie great resilience; the cedar, for example, grows at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Worked quite literally, as embroidered tree rings and branches, or in more abstract lichen-like outgrowths, the motif appeared on misty, earthy pastels, as on a gray-green gown in silk tulle and silk chiffon with cape-like sleeves trimmed with tonal ostrich feathers. The designer also incorporated Lurex into some designs; the silvery finish and supple 3D embellishments on one number are meant to imitate the reflection of moonlight on the mountains in summer. As a metaphor in gradient embroideries on a shimmering (and no doubt weighty) palest pink bridal gown and veil, the theme worked to poetic effect.Weddings are moving forward among Murad’s clientele. His studio also has received commissions for the Oscars and for Cannes, which this year will take place in July. Soon enough, Lebanese cedars may well spring up on the red carpet.
29 March 2021
Zuhair Murad and his team jumped through many hoops for the 60 or so pieces in the fall collection, which was mostly produced in Italy via Zoom.Picking up on his pre-fall outing, the designer pushed further into the world of dance, taking it into abstract territory with some help from the Russian-born artist Wassily Kandinsky, who settled in Paris in the early 1930s. It’s not the most obvious pairing, but one could say the trajectories of designer and artist intersect at the quest for “inner resonance.” Kandinsky used that term to describe how color touches the soul. For Murad—who worked in a night butterfly palette of crimson, steel blue, jet, anise, and dusty pink—resonance lies in the tension between structure and suppleness, a means of resurrecting a kind of night scene that’s hit pause for more than a year now.Named “The Glowing Beats,” the collection got an extra assist from a sleek Jaguar and Murad’s first-ever video, directed by Elie Fahed. Using duchesse silk and crepe cady as a canvas, Murad fused geometrics, macramé, and plumetis with sequins, complex pleating techniques, and swingy fringe that seemed to pine for a dance floor. In his notes, he referenced the timeless glamour of the ’40s although a few ’80s moments edged through (jutting shoulders and a red moiré number with a bouffant skirt spring to mind).The Kandinsky tribute was most evident in prints now re-embroidered with sequins or geometric placements, for example in multicolored sequins on black silk tulle with ostrich feather trim. Silver trompe l’oeil embroideries were eye-catchers. A few sharply tailored pieces, like double-breasted blazers or a knife-pleated miniskirt served as a reminder that Murad can do minimalism when the spirit moves him. On that note, a cashmere cape coat with leather trim was a winner.
17 March 2021
For pre-fall, Zuhair Murad tapped into the relationship between dance and fashion, starting from the basic notion that the body—and by extension fashion—is constantly in motion. His primary muse was the late Soviet prima ballerinaassoluta, Maya Mijáilovna Plisétskaya. The timeless, half-blurred style of American photographer Deborah Turbeville was another touchstone.The litheness of dancers was translated into undulating incrustations of traditional or macramé lace on crisply tailored silhouettes in black or white cady. Ethereal, floaty dresses mixed the lightness of silk chiffon with the structure of tulle or taffeta and the drama of sequins applied like dévoré. Eighties-inflected shoulders was a throughline, as were bouffant sleeves embellished with ruffles, feathers, and lace inserts. On some looks the designer made a point of reprising classic dance attire; for example, through elaborate corsetry on one short, tiered bustier dress, or in black plumetis and multiple layers of tulle on a bustier dress with a cutaway skirt.A series of prints and graphics paid homage to the Ballets Russes of the 1920s, riffing freely on the Cubist and Futuristic motifs favored by artist and costumer Natalia Goncharova, who moved to Paris to work for the celebrated ballet company exactly 100 years ago. That exercise proved compelling in a restrained iteration as mixed embroidery on a tulle bodysuit worn with crisp black trousers. A long gown in embroidered tulle also mimicked the print in black and white feathers and sequins. Such lavishness is, of course, Murad’s home turf, but he also gamely grounded theflouwith tailored, knee-length Bermudas—a nod to simpler needs for complicated times.
15 February 2021
During lockdown Zuhair Murad had already completed most of his spring collection—half in Paris, half in Beirut—finishing weeks before the explosion that devastated the Lebanese capital. Its inspiration was the work of Postimpressionist French painter Henri Rousseau, who conjured “strange plants from exotic lands” without ever leaving France.Hybridized with ’80s-inflected asymmetry and color, that fantasy element informs the 80-something looks shown here. They range from the deceptively simple—for example, color-block numbers in black and white or gold, or a comparatively subdued jacket in technical cotton with macramé inserts—to a full-on dance-’til-dawn sapphire taffeta dress and the the kind of equally full-on 3D embroidery the designer is renowned for.Attuned to his clients’ evolving lifestyle, Murad has been exploring more daywear for several seasons now. A crop top and midiskirt speaks to a certain vision of day (though it bears remembering that, in Murad’s world, embroidery on tulle is, in fact, daywear). So, too, does a new variation of the house’s branding, although in its oversized iteration the ZM logo seemed like a bit much. Not everything about the ’80s deserves revisiting.On the other hand, the designer’s minimalist clutches looked just right. During a Zoom interview from the house’s showroom, a spokesperson noted that Murad’s customers have proven highly adaptable, seamlessly switching from in-person to WhatsApp and online orders in a flash. Though some countries, France among them, continue to feel their way toward the new normal, in other countries the weddings are on and clients are dressing up as ever. In fact, Murad predicts a wedding boom in spring 2021, and to that end the house just showed a bridal capsule in New York. Couture, too, is full steam ahead from new headquarters outside Beirut.
13 October 2020
Zuhair Murad’s pre-fall love affairs with Tamara de Lempicka and Georgia O’Keeffe smolder on, although for fall they’ve got company. Two other late, great proto-influencers, Gloria Vanderbilt and Diana Vreeland, join the party, notably through colors and prints inspired by the tapestry florals and William Morris wallpaper they might have chosen for their own interiors. In 1975 Vreeland was famously quoted inArchitectural Digestas saying she wanted her apartment to look like “a garden in hell.”Worked for day or evening, jacquards and Lurex fil coupé came in a dramatic palette of plum, burgundy, teal, and black, their floral motifs accentuated with gold, soft blush, and lilac and often reprised in lavish sequins on tulle. In a velvet-laden season, Murad treats the fabric two ways, with quilting and, for evening, taffeta placements inspired by the traditional French boutis quilting technique. One grouping amped up holiday dressing with gold tweed trimmed in black and feathers. Another focused on lace placements on prints or solids. On one leather jacket, the designer explored a quilting technique that evoked Cordoba leather. For the red carpet and other major occasions there were many options that Murad’s base loves—miles of lace and sequins in icy blue, black, or burgundy. But the fantasy garden ones were by far the most compelling.
4 March 2020
A side perk of attending a Zuhair Murad show is that it’s a twofer: you have both the designer’s showy vision on the runway and an enthusiastic audience putting on a show all their own. Murad’s ladies take the proceedings seriously, so reliably there will be tiaras, lashings of sequins, towering stilettos, and Mommy and Me–style duets. This season was no exception, and depending on whom you’re seated next to, watching the show through your neighbor’s smartphone screen becomes a new reality, like it or not. She wants to shout it to the world.Down the Nile Murad cruised, riffing on the ancient tropes of Egypt—a country he knows well and loves—invoking gods, pharaohs, and queens, though not the most famous one of all. “I decided to go back in history, especially in this place and time, because the pharaohs were so mysterious,” he said, name-checking Isis and Nefertiti backstage before the show. “There’s a richness of life and fashion, but women were powerful too, maybe even more powerful than men. The mix of power and beauty sums up the Zuhair Murad woman. She likes to seduce.”Subtlety is not her strongest suit, and Murad’s woman is perfectly fine with that. She will thrill to dresses—or perhaps even a crop top—painstakingly embroidered with thousands of sequins depicting all manner of symbols, from hieroglyphs, falcons, and deities (Bastet, the cat-goddess, made an appearance) to Tutankhamun’s likeness. One fully sequined gown required 800 hours of embroidery, the designer reckoned. At one point, the show segued into a romantic interlude of lotus-print chiffon—a reference to rebirth—but the designer also offered up a bit of sly wit, pointing out a number inspired by mummies. (“The ones you see in the museums are really quite embellished,” he noted.) The bride was Murad’s “modern queen of Egypt” in a sun-ray-beaded gown inspired by Ra, the sun god, and a lavishly jeweled headpiece. Even so, that queen was no one person in particular. “When I design for my clients, I’m inspired by them. When I do a collection, I like to rely on my imagination,” the designer said.This couture outing was one of Murad’s most memorable and, paradoxically considering the lavishness of the embroideries, it was one of his more restrained. He has a lot to say, which makes pruning a challenge, however most of his shows would be just as impactful (and maybe even more) were they a dozen looks shorter.
To coax the most fire from a diamond, sometimes you have to sacrifice a shade of carat weight.
24 January 2020
If you’re having Art Deco déjà vu all over again, there’s a good reason for it.For pre-fall, Zuhair Murad mined the 1920s, specifically delving into the kind of woman Tamara de Lempicka was fond of celebrating. Fan cutouts in peekaboo lace, tortoiseshell-inflected pleated fabrics, black and white tweed à la the Rue Cambon, and lashings of black and white fur were only the beginning.Murad made a case for zebra lamé, python finishes, and the return of the bubble skirt, interspersed with a remarkably nuanced (and convincing) sequined floral on a black gown. Elsewhere, a few numbers seemed to distill the Egyptian print from his recent couture outing, and sapphire and emerald gowns held their own even without adornment.There’s a lesson here: Murad may live on a different plane—one dominated by the red carpet and beyond-fabulous weddings—but he knows how to put it on in a more restrained register too. He might consider showing that side of his personality on the catwalk one of these days.
29 January 2020
For his Fall 2020 bridal collection, designer Zuhair Murad set out to blend the organic beauty of nature with the high-wattage glamour of a wedding. Elaborately embroidered ballgowns and A-line dresses came in new rustic shades of blush and soft beige and were photographed outdoors in a bucolic field.Dramatic capes are a Murad specialty regardless of the inspiration or setting, and this season he gave brides something new: a cape-jacket hybrid with long sleeves for a greater range of motion. Other standouts were a showy, ruffled tulle gown with lots of texture and a sculptural skirt. Brides looking for a true “princess” moment will gravitate towards the flared tulle gown with an exaggerated taffeta bow and an organza ballgown with pastel embroidery. The feathered mermaid gown, on the other hand, will befit the woman who wants something slinky and sexy for the after-party.The embroidery seen throughout the collection was inspired by wildflowers. Despite the couture-level details, Murad’s goal was for the dresses to feel right for a charming countryside or lavish venue alike.
7 October 2019
Picking up where he left off for Resort, Zuhair Murad continues to travel through Spain, mining its traditions, architecture, and culture—this time mainly in the Balearic Islands.In a concise showroom presentation, the designer brought together multiple references to striking architectural features, reprising in embroidered organza-wrought iron motifs from the Comares Palace and the Alhambra or transposing artisanal tiles that one finds in Seville into prints or sequined flora on mesh overlays.In his color palette, Murad nodded to artists such as Picasso (in his Blue Period) and Joaquín Sorolla, whose palette and particular way of catching light was a primary inspiration. The designer also sampled freely from the garden, incorporating pixelated flowers, fractal digital art, and sunset colors, which came together kaleidoscopically on dresses and, notably, on a fully sequined cocktail dress that looked like a rainbow at twilight. Spanish lace too made an appearance, on a wisp of a black cocktail dress or spliced into knitwear or a vividly patterned pantsuit. Eveningwear came with cascades of ruffles and flounces, in taffeta, tulle, and lace; some of the comparatively refrained numbers, such as a white shell with an intricate motif worn over flowing white trousers, made a quiet power statement while short dresses with rivets and inserts of pilar jacquard played the youth card.
1 October 2019
Zuhair Murad loves to travel and encounter new places. Backstage before his show, the designer recounted a recent invitation to a gala in Marrakech that allowed him to discover Morocco for the first time. What he saw blew him away.“Marrakech is paradise; I fell in love,” he said. “Such a cosmopolitan city. There’s so much heritage and tradition there, but it also has a modern vibe. It’s like Beirut but with a different style.”Back in his Beirut atelier, he decided to make it his own. Drawing, magpie-like, from his own lexicon along with a dash of Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech in the ’70s, he transposed the colors and artisanal motifs he had admired on tile work and carpets, and borrowed from the traditional tattoos worn by desert tribes, conflating those with Indian influences and recasting them all through meter upon meter of bejeweled, sequined silk chiffon and taffeta.The first look, a tulle minidress with a plunging neckline, was embroidered all over with decorative motifs. It neatly encapsulated a collection of embroideries so intricate you can see why the designer needs two fully staffed ateliers (one in Beirut, the other in Paris) to complete them. The embroidered leopard-print jacket was just one case in point. For a gown with a black velvet bodice, the tile motif was transposed literally into a jacquard Murad developed specifically for lightness, in desert colors like brick, amber, and amaranth with sunset-gold Lurex. It was lavish and also relatively restrained in this context.Elsewhere, a patchwork of different tile designs appeared on a fully embroidered jet-black ball gown. Sequined florals cascaded over gowns, some with feather-trimmed capes, and tattoo motifs spilled over tuxedo stripes on a rare pantsuit. The show, like the runway, could have been shorter, but Murad’s ladies thrilled to it all, posting looks frenetically from the front row.By Murad’s own reckoning, he fulfills as many as 10 couture bridal commissions a month on average. True love aside, these brides marry for The Dress, and to close, he offered them something to dream about, an ivory gown with an abstract floral-carpet pattern in tonal crystals and sequins that, in his own words, was designed with a real-life princess in mind.
4 July 2019
Bullfighters’ intricately embroideredtrajes de luceswas the dramatic reference behind Zuhair Murad’s Resort collection; the sumptuous Spanish sensuality clearly resonated with the designer’s aesthetic sensibility. And what’s more Spanish than a polka-dotted, ruffled flamenco dress? Frills and volants aplenty were lavished on décolletés of floor-sweeping numbers in dainty lace, or on tiered skirts in flimsy printed chiffon, corseted with leather belts. Blooming on minidresses in broderie anglaise or twirling around sleeves and across bodices, they were ubiquitous.The Spanish theme was also there in pantsuits with abbreviated embroidered jackets and cropped pants, referencing the slim silhouettes of toreadors, or else in leather minidresses, laser cut with motifs inspired bypeinatas,traditional haircombs with ornate latticework. Silhouettes were either hourglass-y, sensuous, and body-con or more flowing and light; an ’80s flair gave the collection a modern twist, as in a sleek black tuxedo with sharp-tailored shoulders and a sexy minidress heavily embellished with golden sequins.
1 July 2019
Even the most contemporary bride can find value in tradition, which might explain why royal weddings are so universally beloved these days. While our eyes have recently been on the nuptials of a few British royals, for his Spring 2020 bridal collection Zuhair Murad looked to Spanish weddings, matadors, and flamenco dancers for inspiration.His signature couture details told stories of Iberian culture: The elaborate beading and embroidery was based on the ornate embellishments of a bullfighter’s suit, and the needlework on a few dresses revealed outlines of tiny fans. Dramatic capes, a signature of Murad’s, seemed inspired by a torero’s uniform, while cathedral-length mantillas and headbands festooned with oversize flowers might just set a trend for bridal veils and headpieces.For the bride who wants a statement-making gown without a lot of embroidery, there was a long-sleeved dress that combined pieced lace, Swiss-dotted tulle, and a pleated ruffle trim. Another playful look was Murad’s V-neck tiered A-line gown scattered with minuscule sequined flowers topped with a feather-trimmed cape. A hand-painted ballgown with abstract floral brushstrokes—a newer technique for Murad and the bridal market in general—exuded sophistication with a sense of whimsy.Two-in-one looks, like an embroidered column dress with a detachable overskirt, felt not only in line with what Murad’s brides want, but were also a wink to the Spanish tradition of partying into the early hours of the morning. Remove the big skirt and you could dance ’til dawn.
15 April 2019
East meets West is an oft visited trope, but Zuhair Murad tackled it with gusto. At times, the result was beguiling.Murad’s core customer counts on him for much muchness. But when the designer reins it in a bit on the trimmings, he makes a stronger case.Take, for example, an exercise in samurai culture. The anchor was the onna-bugeisha female warriors of the Japanese nobility, filtered through a prism of intricate laces and gold-studded panel skirts, while also roping in Art Deco and manga influences, notably through the sensual, bondage-inflected work of Araki. Yes, it’s a lot, but the designer showed a deft hand. Araki’s photos of flowers on the wane, a nod tovanitas, informed a more profound exercise than one might typically expect from this house. The shaved-out blush furs were interesting, too, even if they looked more like topiary from Versailles than anything from Asia.Romance with a darker tinge—large-scale florals on a black ground—worked well for him. So did the dark tweed jacket and skater dress. Iridescent placements on a black leather sheath dress nodded to Art Nouveau. A riff on obi belts, with a crane motif on a sharply tailored black satin coat or full-on sequins, looked like it was aiming for the realm of art.Elsewhere were the lacier numbers in nude or black, or the suits with jeweled closures that appeal to the designer’s classic base (with all the time in fitting rooms with brides-to-be and their female relatives, he’s got plenty of feedback to work with).But perhaps his best exercise was an exploration of shakudō ornamentation, an age-old process based on copper alloy with a low gold content known as “black gold,” which can produce a lacquer-like finish. The designer transposed this idea to grandiose effect on a sunray dress in intricate gold rays on a black ground. Though ornate, in Murad’s world, it was an exercise in (relative) restraint. It must be torment for a designer like Murad to hold back when his first reflex is to lavish a dress with everything he’s got. But when he pulls it off, he does it to stunning effect.
5 March 2019
The underwater life of mermaids and sea creatures seemed to fascinate quite a few couture designers this week; actually, it’s the easiest, first-degree inspiration for any summer collection. This being couture, the oceans were obviously imagined like fantastical dreamlands—certainly not like the plastic-infested, pollution-endangered future wastelands they actually are. The sustainability conversation has a long way to go before landing on these shores.Sea life was thus referenced in Zuhair Murad’s dramatic collection, where opulence blended with a modern flair on ’80s-inspired silhouettes. The designer kept the theme rather controlled, without any too-literal translations, save for a multilayered nude tulle ball gown encrusted with embroidered corals. Still, its exquisitely executed embellishments had a lovely lightness.Wispy ruffled confections were offered in quite a few shades of blue dégradé: ”They evoke the feel of ripples on water,” said Murad. Yet beyond an apparent predilection for allover, look-at-me sparkle (“My women want to be seen,” he said), he favors a young, contemporary feel. Here, he was at his best when working on sleek, streamlined shapes, sensual more than overtly sexy, as in a series of long figure-hugging, sequined silk tulle numbers, with slit sides and billowy, sheer chiffon trains. The train was sort of the collection’s leitmotif; in a deep blue shade of layered silk chiffon, it was tied on the back of a tailored miniskirt suit, lavishly embroidered. Worn with a matching brassiere, it exuded a modern appeal.The color palette was charming, progressing backward from blue-black tones inspired by the ocean’s depth, through all the conceivable shades of turquoise, aqua, shell pink, and coral, reaching the luminous quality of mother-of-pearl, abalone-gray, and silver at the finale.
23 January 2019
Zuhair Murad opened his first atelier in Beirut in 1997; since then, his haute couture collections have expanded to include a more affordable daywear and tailoring offer, obviously as elaborately executed as his more flamboyant creations. For Pre-Fall, the designer looked at Japanese culture for inspiration, filtered through his imaginative, decorative style.The artists Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita and Katsushika Hokusai, as well as the Japonisme of the 1920s, provided the backdrop for the romantic watercolor landscapes printed on a languid silk pajama set and embroidered all over on a glamorous figure-hugging number. Similarly, an ethereal Japanese garden theme was translated on a wispy tulle ball gown in a dusty shade of blue with 3-D floral appliqué. A black fil coupe ball gown embroidered with blossoming chrysanthemums looked spectacular.The kimono was obviously the template for a lavishly embellished wrap jacket embroidered with bamboo motifs that was paired with a long black velvet pencil skirt. The designer favors a sense of drama, which was highlighted in a series of short black dresses in lush velvet or laser-cut leather. Here again he indulged his exuberant decorative flair with appliqués of lotus patterns on an elongated wrap coat trimmed with long silk fringes. It definitely exuded all the glamour the designer is known for.
25 January 2019
Lingering in the Southern Islands has given Zuhair Murad a few new ideas. One of the takeaways was a tattoo print: Look closely and you will see that those hearts are in all the right places—bodice and bum—but actually it was much more subdued than it sounds.That was one of the breakaway elements for Spring, though if you didn’t know where to look, it wouldn’t necessarily jump out at you. The same could be said of so many details in this collection. Also, it illustrated how Murad continues to explore new ideas. The black-and-white prints were some of the less embellished pieces and were the stronger for it. Other standouts included the tailored daywear options, among them a pantsuit with crinkled incrustations and a restrained flared trouser (shown in black or white) that makes legs look like they go on forever. If ever the Murad woman felt like breaking away from a total look, she’d get a lot of mileage out of those.Elsewhere, the designer ticked all the seasonal boxes: A teal grouping had silver embroidery; a lashing of fuchsia, lace, and ruffles came in several iterations starring the hibiscus flower; a beveled “tassel raised” shoulder gave jackets an indomitable air; and the trousers of a white Le Smoking were striped in lace. And there was an empowerment message in the evening caped numbers, notably one in beige with silver Art Deco beading. Murad’s base will be able to decode that in no time flat.
30 September 2018
There were almost as many sequins in the front row at Zuhair Murad as there were on the runway—proof, as if any were needed, of how loyal the designer’s fan base is. Some of them even wore tiaras.Although latter-day czarinas may be partial to head jewels, this collection, inspired by a night in imperial St. Petersburg, didn’t really need them. There was plenty of intricate jewel-like detailing going on in the clothes, some of it so elaborate the dresses rasped the floor.And yet, for such a profusion of opulence, this collection may just count among Murad’s more restrained outings. It looked more womanly than girly, for one. Or perhaps it’s because he decided to embellish rich fabrics like velvet, duchesse satin, and chiffon in a harmonious palette of wine, gray, sapphire, and (winningly) khaki, with mostly tonal arabesques or floral embroideries.“The czars and czarinas had famously luxurious taste,” the designer offered backstage before the show, although in lieu of a specific muse, he said he looked to his “many Russian clients who are beautiful and also have a very strong character.” The show notes name-checked Elizabeth of Russia, whose wardrobe counted 15,000 dresses and whose best-known legacy is the Winter Palace; Keira Knightley also got a nod for her title role inAnna Karenina(in 2013, the film won both the Oscar and the BAFTA for best costume design). Still, it’s worth noting that, like the rest of Europe, the aristocracy in imperial Russia was taking all its fashion cues from France.Murad incorporated military details on opening numbers, such as a black velvet suit and tails with bronze and red embroidery or a fully beaded, cropped double-breasted jacket over harem trousers, but those and several caped pieces aside, he didn’t seem to be caught in any single period. These 55 looks are clearly of the red carpet–and–Instagram era: Astonishing embellishments such as imperial eagles or messages of love embroidered in gold merited examination close up.Even the bride was a queen. Asked how many hours the embroidery might have taken, the designer replied, “Thousands and thousands. That’s another story.” The effect was cinematic, although a real-life bride would be wise to know what she’s getting into. “It’s a little bit heavy,” he admitted. “You need to be a strong woman to wear it.”
5 July 2018
The women who wear Zuhair Murad are an international bunch, inhabiting the poshest spots from Abu Dhabi to St. Petersburg to Ibiza. For Resort, Murad looked to the spirit of travel, but with the twist of focusing specifically on end-of-the-19th-century journeys to the French East Indies. A niche reference, for sure, it led the designer to the work of Paul Gauguin, the post-impressionist painter whose Tahitian period produced some of the most famous, if not most fraught, paintings of the 1890s.Where Gauguin made an obvious impact was on the palette: Vibrant marigold, rich azure, and a delicately feminine pink played counterpoint to his standard black, white, and barely there blush. The Tahitian spirit also birthed a recurring hibiscus motif that splashed the designer’s body-conscious and sometimes too-serious silhouettes with a little bit of fun.More so than color or pattern, however, the biggest shift in Murad’s Resort offering was its move away from the vixenish “naked dresses” and flirty, miniskirted looks he’s known for. Here, he traded gowns for a sleek nautical jumpsuit with a flared hem; a fit-and-flare knit dress in an abstract butterfly pattern; and sharp-shouldered blazers and cigarette pants that have the potential to turn new women into Zuhair Murad converts.
9 July 2018
For his Spring 2019 bridal collection, Zuhair Murad mixed things up with new architectural silhouettes and geometric details. Inspired by the Art Deco movement of the ’30s, particularly New York’s Chrysler Building, the dresses were strong and fierce, while retaining the lavish flare the Murad bride wants. The lineup included off-the-shoulder ball gowns with straight necklines and capped or long sleeves; a deep V-neck sheath with a tiered overskirt, which offered both softness and structure; and a full chiffon gown with an embroidered bodice. Glitzy Art Deco embroidery and feather embellishments nodded to Old Hollywood glamour, but resisted looking too retro thanks to trompe l’oeil and tattoo-like effects.Murad didn’t forget about the brides who love his lush floral embroideries. Corded lace and crystal appliqués were scattered on full ball skirts, and delicate 3-D flowers bloomed on a slinky sheath as well as its pocketed overskirt. The designer was smart to include a few more traditional dresses, too, like a sleeveless, lace-appliquéd tulle gown with a bow belt, which was one of the most looks stunning in the collection.
18 April 2018
Yesterday, Zuhair Murad soft-opened a new boutique inside The Dubai Mall. That speaks volumes about the traction his daywear has built up in just a few seasons.For Fall, the designer continues to fine-tune the calibration between his ready-to-wear label and his couture vision, even if the two threaten to meld at times. In the case of one blush-color beaded evening gown, the in-house team simply settled on calling it “ready-to-couture.”But overall, one senses the designer is trying to ease his aesthetic into a more everyday space—if his base needs a peasant top, a perfecto, or a baseball jacket, for example, he’s got them covered, albeit with high embellishment.Carrying over from last season, Murad continues to explore the empowerment theme, this time forsaking the Edwardian era for an art-meets-rock vibe as exemplified by the It girls of the ’60s and ’70s: Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, and Edie Sedgwick. A segue into the tapestry-weaving tradition of the Balkans complicated the narrative somewhat, yet somehow managed to play out coherently in a long black dress with panels of floral motifs, for example. A handful of black suiting options showed new restraint; however, the designer could pare back even more on trimmings here and there without surrendering femininity.Elsewhere, striped and ruffled knits, a chenille dress with a pleated hem, and embroidered shifts had a younger vibe. So, too, did the embellished thigh-high stocking boots—soon to be followed by the designer’s latest accessory: “high legs,” aka embroidered thigh-high stockings. Those skewed more Cindi Lauper. It will be interesting to see if they catch on.
6 March 2018
Over the past few seasons, Zuhair Murad has been integrating key inspirations from his couture collections into ready-to-wear. It’s not a literal lift—it might be a theme or a graphic element or even a color. As a result, his various categories are now as coherent as they’ve ever been.Encouragingly, for a designer best known for cocktail-to-evening, Murad seems truly committed to daywear. His pragmatic side is emerging slowly but surely, in recognition of his clients’ real-life needs. Not that there aren’t a lot of ultra-feminine options. After all, Murad’s base relies on him for that.For Pre-Fall, the inspirations were rather eclectic, running from the Edwardian era to the ’70s, the common theme being that those two periods were key to women’s liberation—for the suffragette movement in the first instance and for the women’s lib movement in the second.Murad has a particular fondness for the Edwardian period because “that was the first age of the modern woman.” Also important, lace played a key role. So he ran the Belle Epoque through an Anita Pallenberg kaleidoscope with a little Virginia Woolf thrown in for good measure. His customers will find the result convincing, with naive prints, high-neck dresses in a mix of laces, and plenty of dévoré velvet, but also trouser suits and compelling prints inspired by Klimt. The latter influence was also spun out, winningly, on a jeweled clutch and other accessories. A black-and-white theme skewed, as the designer put it in his notes, “Dorian Gray meets Lucy Honeychurch,” however the white tweeds with black leather cabochon trim could just as easily speak for themselves. The fully sequined tuxedo jacket and the green velvet number with black satin lapels and real jeweled closures—in onyx, amazonite, marble, and gold—were rich but not OTT for this register. Some of the embroidered jacquards could even work with jeans.Which brings us back to Murad’s newfound lighter touch. A show of restraint in embellishments can only appeal to a wider audience. In favoring seasonless fabrics, more trousers, and sharp jackets with toned-down details, the designer is granting himself greater relevance. His looks may not be for everyone, but expanding is a clever move.
30 January 2018
Teepee poles down the center of a gilded salon made the type of incongruous first impression that doesn’t usually end well. The show’s title, Indian Summer, was a poor choice of double entendre. The collection text indicating that Native American culture would be “observed from a fantasized and respectful perspective” did not exactly instill confidence. The feather planted into the back of each hairstyle was a reminder from start to finish that, while a designer is free to borrow, some codes are more sensitive than others. How did Zuhair Murad think he could take on this theme without directly putting himself in the line of fire? “For haute couture, it was risky, yes. But I said to myself, I want to go beyond my limits this time; I want to do a challenge,” he explained backstage. “Most of the time, I am inspired by the past, and this is a kind of an homage and respect to the people who left us a very beautiful heritage of art, craftsmanship, and design.”This is where some might point out that Murad could have considered engaging living artisans to help bring his interpretative vision to life with greater authenticity. Instead, symbols and motifs belonging to what the collection text referred to as “ancient tribes” were reconceived by his studio into glistening embroideries on second-skin gowns. The opening grouping in all-white beading and feathers made clear that Murad was putting aesthetic distance between his designs and his source material. He used the teepee shape as silhouette inspiration, creating strong A-line shapes with capes and skirts that applied the theme to more intriguing effect than a strapless red gown with teepees rendered in jacquard. But then white-on-black Aztec-esque motifs seemed so confident in expression and meticulous in execution that Murad should be grateful to his own studio for upholding a high standard of decoration.On the balance, there were enough striking looks among the mix for clients to sidestep the theme should they be concerned about people’s reactions. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine some of Murad’s leading ladies embracing the Native American motifs on the red carpet, where every decision is now more loaded than ever. “The clients today believe in my taste, and they tell me they trust me and will follow me,” Murad insisted. Fair enough; but just because he has taken the risk doesn’t mean they will.
25 January 2018
Detachable overskirts and shoulder-grazing capes defined Zuhair Murad’s Fall 2018 bridal collection. Both pieces offer brides the flexibility of switching up their look from ceremony to reception, but they also helped Murad’s gowns stand out from the rest this week. Constructed from tulle and silk chiffon, the most showstopping dresses were beaded, embroidered, and embellished, and even the more understated A-lines came with intricate handwork. Simple, flattering necklines—from illusion boatneck and off-the-shoulder to a deep V—complemented those embroideries and 3-D petals, and each dress came in pink champagne or off-white.Fans of Murad’s ready-to-wear and bridal collections are accustomed to his super-detailed, couture-level gowns, but this time, he dialed things up a notch with statement accessories, too: ruffled tulle stoles tied around the shoulders, floor-skimming capes, cathedral-length embroidered veils. They certainly aren’t for a minimalist, but if these pieces are meant for a real-life fairy tale, they’re also customized for a fit so flawless they can make a bride look like she does this every day.
9 October 2017
Zuhair Murad is in an interesting phase creatively. In translating his couture vision to ready-to-wear, he’s striving to hew a path between what his legions of clients expect and aspire to and the realities of a life lived on the move. It’s a compelling challenge. It’s always easier to look chic just sitting in one place. But when you’re in Beirut one day and London or Paris the next, the issues of practicality become self-evident.The designer’s solution for Spring was to turn to the ancients in two different ways. On the one hand, there’s a precious, gold-studded, fringed goddess-slash-Amazon; on the other, there’s a more nymph-like romantic. One gravitates to a strong, sensual look, while the other has a softer touch. Whatever her leanings, the Murad woman loves making an entrance.“I’ve been looking to do something new,” the designer commented backstage as models dressed for their next living tableau. “There’s something mysterious and untouchable about my woman that I find very elegant. She’s like a fantasy. But it needs to work, too. You need to fit many kinds of women. She’s neither classical nor futuristic—she is a real woman.”The designer saved his strongest looks for Paris, but what he showed was only a fraction of what will land in stores. Black and white dominated, and the garments were embellished with a shower of gold studs, crystals, beads, or lavish embroideries. There was a greater focus on knitwear—for example, in dresses with pleated skirts and tone-on-tone crystals. Jacquard suits etched out with chain trim looked sharp; evening dresses in lace were worked with tattoo-like delicacy; and, in an adaptation straight from the couture collection, a number of dresses both long and short featured his under-the-sea motif in embroidery or print. Of a selection of fringed numbers, the designer mused, “It’s almost like there’s music inside them.”Like beauty,simpleandspecialtend to live in the eye of the beholder. Murad enjoys one luxury that any designer would envy: a loyal clientele that will follow him anywhere. It’s a safe bet they will love their options for spring. But it’s equally likely that paring back a tad more wouldn’t feel less special. It might prove even more intriguing.
2 October 2017
“She’s tall, beautiful, self-confident,” Zuhair Murad said, describing his impression of Charles Dana Gibson’s famous Gibson Girl illustrations from the 1890s. Funny, though, he may as well have been referring to his own feminine ideal. Compared to his last haute couture collection, which was a blitz of ’80s glitz, this offering came across as relatively restrained and romantic (needless to say, Murad’s creations remain seeped in opulence). His interpretations of fin de siècle silhouettes, Edwardian inflections, and Art Nouveau decoration meant that models assumed a more cultivated air—and if this sounds like a pretentious observation, at least it conveys his break with what came before. At the start, you see the black-and-white grouping benefiting from velvet, fluid beadwork, and high-contrast botanical embroidery. But he quickly moved on from this sharp register for a softer rollout of a muted palette, with diaphanous gowns covered in tonal surface detail—and all those nature motifs shone like diamonds (or, at least, extra-luminous crystal). His nude effect seemed even more finessed than usual; it was nearly impossible to spot where the illusion ended and the body began.Beyond that, singling out the fairest maidens seems like a futile exercise, since the perfectly fitted silhouettes all qualified as pretty, and any additional preferences would be highly subjective. Still, the delicate feather and pleated tulle aspects—a pleated portrait collar here, a floaty tuft of ostrich there—imbued the gowns with welcome lightness and movement. This kind of subdued detailing will be recognized by the designer’s ideal-aspiring clients as new, even if it originated from something old.
5 July 2017
From his studio in Beirut, Zuhair Murad has been conquering red carpets all over the world—Jessica Chastain closed out this year’s Cannes Film Festival in one of his embellished gowns, a white crepe number with a burst of red crystals.But lately the designer has also been listening to the clients and friends who are clamoring for more day-appropriate looks. The fairy-tale element is still very much in play—that’s Murad’s home turf—but this season it has cropped up with a lighter touch that is both welcome and savvy.With a pin-striped hourglass suit and a sprinkling of gold beads, the designer nodded to ’40s Surrealism, a theme that resurges elsewhere in jewel-inspired placed embroidery. A cinched dress in soft pink cotton eyelet with black trim at the waist and cuffs amped up the romance, while a trench with lace inserts on the sleeves and back provided that wardrobe basic with Murad’s signature femininity. Light cotton dresses with lace inserts gave full-on seduction a welcome breather, yet flirty knit numbers with short pleated skirts and ruffle details stopped short of innocent. Flowing castle-in-the-clouds prints on peasant blouses or short and long dresses would not look out of place in Ibiza or any other casual-chic resort destination. Neither, for that matter, would the midnight blue pajama ensemble with the star print.True to form, Murad revisited the season’s fairyland motif in a fully sequined, royal blue gown with silver beading. It’s a showstopper, all right. But all-out seduction can be a lot of work. The softer, flower-strewn pink dresses looked younger, more grounded, and more of-the-moment. It will be interesting to follow where else the designer decides to go with this new mood.
2 July 2017
Zuhair Murad’s business spans daywear, cocktail dresses, and five-figure wedding gowns, but for most of us, he’s synonymous with the red carpet. His gowns are often the most intricate, sparkling, and revealing looks at the awards shows (usually on the best bodies in Hollywood). Stylists don’t go to him for a simple column, so it makes sense that the Beirut-based designer would take a few cues from his red carpet hits for his new bridal collection.Consider the couture jumpsuits Alessandra Ambrosio and Jennifer Lopez have worn recently, which inspired a flared jumpsuit in white illusion lace. Bridal jumpsuits may seem polarizing, but a press rep said it was one of this collection’s best sellers. A more conservative bride (or a bride who wants two looks) can style it with a frothy tulle overskirt tied with a satin bow. Removable overskirts are another Murad signature, and there were several dramatic options this season. But many of Murad’s brides also want sleeker, more streamlined styles, like the shirred silk dress with tiny sequins along the neckline. There was a similar number in ethereal, unlined lace embroidered with pearls, flowers, and birds; it felt just as luxe as one of his ball gowns, but without the stuffing.
28 April 2017
Zuhair Murad owes his success to a very loyal client base with a heavy social calendar: These women need a lot of dresses. But they also live fast-paced lives, so of late they’ve been clamoring for “real-world” daywear.For Fall, the designer gamely obliged with a nostalgia-tinged nod to Françoise Hardy circa 1968. The French music and fashion icon was a new discovery for the Beirut-based designer, but he quickly became a fan, finding in her style and songs a sense of freedom and sensuality (her 1964 hit “Mon Amie la Rose” is his favorite).Sixties shapes—miniskirts, peasant blouses, floaty dresses—and a masculine/feminine sensibility provided the base for treatments ranging from tweed run through with tulle ruffles to the embroidery-intensive numbers for which the designer is known.Backstage before the show, Murad said that black is actually his favorite color (particularly for day). To that end, he offered up relatively restrained glamour—for example, in a jacket with a black-and-white weave and leather collar, worn over flared tuxedo trousers. Elsewhere, he applied pink and lavender floral embroidery to a black-and-white tartan coat, a pantsuit with leather trim, and a miniskirt with crystal buttons. While not necessarily new, this is fresh territory for Murad and it may well prove a crowd-pleaser. A graphic patchwork coat in black-and-white rabbit fur with fox sleeves made a strong statement; that it took a solid month to make speaks to the designer’s couture process.Although intricate, the eveningwear looked less embellished than usual, with the exception of a couple feathered, beaded numbers. Flowing patchworks of lace, chiffon, and macramé were sprinkled with tonal sequins and paired with a velvet evening jacket. A macramé jumpsuit came cinched with a chain belt. A leather miniskirt featured lace inlay and a quilted effect. Although his clients clearly wear the real thing, the designer’s nascent line of fashion jewelry brought a little extra sparkle to the mix. Prints aside, the collection left an overall impression of Parisian-ness. Smart move.
4 March 2017
There were fireworks at Zuhair Murad’s show. They rained over dresses in bursts of embroidery, shot upward from tulle shoulder ruffles, shimmered in red crystals, and shone from the top of the bride’s tiara. The famous Miyajima Water Fireworks Festival provided endless embellishment possibilities for the brand’s founder and designer, who aimed to capture colors and effects alike. Of course, the results were interpretative, so pyrotechnic enthusiasts shouldn’t be too concerned if the palm, peony, or chrysanthemum configurations on ball gowns and bodices don’t look entirely true to form. But no doubt, the research was fun—even more so because he mentioned that much of the silhouette inspiration came fromDynasty. This was evident from the sweeping skirts in duchesse satin with oversize bow and ruffle accents, which were also meant to evoke the waves around the island where the light show takes place.If such glitz and volume feel dated today, one need only look to the dresses worn at the inaugural ball. Murad could actually be onto something. That said, there were ways to buy into the theme in a lower register: The tank neckline on a duchesse satin dress splashed with a fireworks print felt sleek and unaffected; the parachute pant shown as both a tuxedo and a beaded blue jumpsuit seduced without the swish. The red envelope dress with its balance between sleeves and slits seems like obvious Academy Awards material. As to be expected, Murad insisted he doesn’t design with red carpet season in mind. But of all the possible themes, fireworks might prove particularly tempting for a nominee.
26 January 2017
Zuhair Murad was just a kid back in the ’80s, but that didn’t stop him from reviving some of that decade’s most salient signatures in a collection rife with bold color, lush materials, wide shoulders, cinched waists, and lashings of plumetis, Lurex, lace, ruffles, and pleats. Intricate and precious embroideries of flowers and birds of paradise decorate the season’s major statement pieces, elevating even washed-out denim or a trench coat to quasi-couture levels. (The platinum tresses are up to you.)“I love the mood of the time. Growing up, my room was plastered with pictures of Madonna, and we used to watchDynastyandDallas. I wanted to borrow from the ’80s but let the clothes shine in a more modern way,” the designer commented in an interview. For that reason, he decided to embellish the collection with embroidery inspired by Chinese art—hence the lavish birds and flowers. “I love to mix moods and cultures. It’s an interesting challenge to mix older references and techniques with modern shapes and sexiness,” he noted.Cue the collection’s biggest statement piece, a lavishly embroidered and embellished pajama-style evening coat in champagne silk with fuchsia trim, a thought that the designer spun out in a more restrained manner on an evening trench, leather miniskirt, black dévoré jacquard, and even denim. Elsewhere, the designer mixed plumetis and various laces on princess dresses with Victorian necklines, or used it for sleeves: a fuchsia-lined, long black dress sported one plumetis sleeve, while another cocktail dress had removable ones. More minimalist by comparison was a jumpsuit series, including ones in cady, leather, or the fully sequined black number with plunging neckline, tapered lags, and nipped waist.Murad loves dressing his ladies for the nightlife, but with this collection he responded to clients’ wishes for expanded daywear options. These included knitwear, jersey, and a few more pared-down pieces, such as wide-legged trousers with a paper bag waist, jewel-tone blouses with accordion pleats, or a purple bomber. Plumetis also returned, mohawk style, as edging to further pump up shoulders. He’s also expanding his vision in retail, with a new store in the Dubai Mall opening this August, to be followed by others in London and New York over the next three years.
26 January 2017
Zuhair Muradis always looking for the next big thing in bridal. His most recent claim to fame is the overskirt, a removable ball skirt that gives brides a way to appear regal at the altar and cut loose on the dance floor. Other designers have jumped on the overskirt bandwagon, too, and it’s rare to browse a bridal boutique without seeing a few variations on it.Despite the prevalence of the trend, Murad is still devoted to overskirts. This season, his most dramatic one had cascading ruffles and lace down the back, almost like a bustle. But he’s also introducing a new removable option for Fall: the bridal jacket.This isn’t your average fur capelet, however; Murad’s take was a long-sleeved, floor-length lace jacket nipped tightly at the waist and covered in tiny beads and sequins. Worn over a lace ball gown, it all looked like one piece. It will be a nice option for brides who can’t show too much skin at their wedding, or who want two “looks” without buying two dresses.
25 October 2016
Zuhair Murad’s designs glow extra bright within a narrow niche of the fashion biz, which might be why he never deviates too greatly from his unabashed glamour. Still, he insists that newness is imperative. “If I’m always repeating myself, there’s no challenge,” he said from his showroom in the Eighth Arrondissement. “It’s motivating to do something out of the ordinary.” For Spring, this meant doubling down on mirrored, monochromatic embroideries and tinkering with silhouettes from the couture canon. Check out the white, off-the-shoulder top with a glimmering silver peplum shown in Look 3; Look 35’s hand-embroidered leather jacket with its ladylike 1950s-inspired neckline; or the puff sleeve black crop top with leggings like mirrored mosaics in Look 37, and you’ll get the high-drama drift.Murad could have devoted even more of the collection to this conceit; the classically feminine constructions proved a pleasing foil for the excessive embellishment. Instead, he tested out another idea: a graphic flower enlarged beyond all recognition. With its kinetic bursts of pastel blue, pink, and yellow, the motif makes a decidedly modern statement, especially as a minidress with a sternum cut-out or an M-shaped bodice and matching cigarette pant. Let’s not forget the white jean leggings and jacket paneled with a lattice of embroidery and topped off with pearl buttons. Worn as a total look—complete with the angular crop top and Murad’s updated vintage jewelry—it transcended ordinary in a way that makes it perfectly suited for the type of overexposed celebrity who goes bling or goes home.
1 October 2016
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? “Bohemian Rhapsody” was released whenZuhair Muradwas in preschool, so he’s too young to actually remember the ’70s. But since Queen’s power ballad has always resonated with the designer, he put it on the soundtrack and gamely offered up his own version of hippie chic, adding velvet capes, macramé embroideries, and thigh-high boots to the mix. Hats gave the show unexpected attitude. “She’s young, modern, and rock, but elegant at the same time,” Murad offered backstage, adding, “She’s also rich. Her dresses are full of jewels, transparency, and tattoo ornamentation.” When not rocking a ruffled black Chantilly lace dress, the Murad girl appeared in a flamboyant parade of velvet, crepe, tulle, and chiffon dresses in such colors as cyan, purple, plum, iris, and honeysuckle. In one of his most compelling moves, Murad took a detour through the Vienna Secession movement with a salute to Gustav Klimt in black organza with multicolored embroidery. Another one of the prettiest gowns, in hand-painted champagne-color silk chiffon, was among the least-embellished numbers in the collection. Murad is brimming with ideas about opulence, color, and ornamentation. While one can only admire his enthusiasm, some of the designer’s strongest ideas were the simplest ones. His outings might gain in impact if he began culling some of his more familiar designs, starting perhaps with a few in pink or lime. Murad is renowned for his spectacular bridal gowns. This time, he decided to leave classic white by the wayside in favor of an off-the-shoulder dress in latte beige. “I wanted to make it a little bit vintage, like when you look at old photos,” the designer explained. “Boho gypsy chic is all about attitude.”
7 July 2016
Zuhair Murad’s business works in reverse compared with most other fashion brands in that glitzy, embellished special-occasion pieces make up his core offering followed by his daywear. Jeans and a sweatshirt? With him, these are novelties. Yet they could both be found among an expanded Resort offering that referenced photographer David Hamilton and painter Henri Rousseau in “an imaginary dialogue.” The hallmarks of each artist played out individually; Hamilton’s 1970s bohemian ingenues were conjured up with gauzy pastel dresses in tiers of plumetis and Chantilly lace with smocked detailing, or delicately knit palazzo pants and flowy beachside dresses in all-white; whereas vibrant embroideries of tropical flora and fauna nodded to Rousseau’s tropical scenes.Bringing them together necessitated wide creative license—as when some of the looks got lost in their patterned jungle—so it’s probably best to move on from drawing additional parallels. Which is not to suggest the collection lacked talking points. Those seeking newness may gravitate toward a white fur bolero boldly patterned with multicolored floral sprigs, white or black jeans with tone-on-tone embroidery, and a dress in which an extended tulip-shaped high waistline met a sculpted bra top. Fans of flash might think to refresh their wardrobes with the bleached jeans, this time covered in multihued embroidery, the crystal-emblazoned sweatshirt boasting “Haute Street” and “Zuhair Murad,” or else any of the looks in black tulle, from which the exotic printed and beaded appliqués bloomed fullest. Finally, an asymmetrically draped suede jumpsuit and the tricolor macramé lace dresses will attract those who prefer the designer in softly feminine mode rather than fierce.
27 June 2016
WhileZuhair Muradhas never been a minimalist, his direction this season, “Las Vegas by night,” gave him even more license to go big or go home. Shown in a salon at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, lit a purplish blue like some Sin City boîte, the collection was staged in subsections: a graphic black-and-white grouping, another dubbed “biker baroque,” and a final category bursting with butterflies. During a walkthrough, the designer mentioned how a black gown dripping with beaded fringes was inspired by Cher, a flounced-waist jumpsuit with gold buttons reminded him of ’90s supermodels, and several other embellished pieces nodded to Michael Jackson. With so many icons driving the design, one might wonder where to find the essence of Murad himself. Well, it was there in the sequined butterflies, their wings unpinned in relief, as well as the nude-effect gowns, which are destined for the red carpet once adequately modified. A leading Parisian retailer declared a white fur-collared coat, “Mag-ni-fique,” as other women, presumably clients, seemed to drool over the body-con knit minidresses.Like several other designers this season, Murad rediscovered velvet, which provided a luxe foil for all his flashes of flesh. In fact, it wasn’t the only thing to hint at the brand’s broader consideration of day-to-eveningwear. Despite being late to quilted motorcycle pants and boyfriend jeans (his were fronted with floral embroideries), he revved up the looks with a sequin smoking or Chantilly lace blouse, as if he had been exploring tougher sexuality all along. The expanded range—see also the graphic zigzag party pajamas and lace sweatshirts—spoke to Murad’s understanding of current trends. It also presented an opportunity to shape trends himself—for better or worse. Here’s betting some of his divas will dare to wear the sheer graphic-patterned numbers by day.
6 March 2016
Last season,Zuhair Muradtook a voyage through the cosmos. Now, he’s back on Earth and traveling through the past, revisiting the panier skirts that were in favor under Elizabeth I. “I love the possibilities of corsets. You could say I wanted to put women in a gilded cage,” the designer offered backstage before the show, meaning it in the strictly figurative way. The Zuhair Murad woman—and the room was full of them—won’t have any second thoughts about following his lead.Building on an architecture of crinolined curves veiled with illusion tulle, the designer went to town showering his dresses with “precious tattoos” like ivy and creeping florals made of embroidery, many kinds of lace, organza, satin, sequins, and silver beads. A cascade of 3-D floral embroideries—each petal sewn on individually—poured over dresses short and long, their tendrils spreading over the latticework of the underlying corsetry. Although he said he wasn’t thinking red carpet, one could easily picture some of these dresses, like a short one with coral- and red-petaled flowers, or a long one in watercolor hues of pale gray green and pink, on a rising starlet. Elsewhere, the designer might have benefitted from a stiffer edit, notably when it came to the pantsuits and the coral-, mauve-, and anise-color series. But if it was a fairy-tale effect he was after, Murad achieved that goal.On the subject of fairy-tale endings, the lavishly embroidered bridal gown with 13-foot train and matching veil recalled that Murad does a seriously brisk business in wedding attire: His ateliers turn out five or six gowns per month. This one, for example, required two shifts of 30 embroiderers each one solid month to complete. “This is not for an ordinary wedding,” the designer conceded. “It’s more like A Thousand and One Nights.” And then some.
28 January 2016
For some time,Zuhair Muradhas been tinkering with his brand identity beyond the red carpet, seemingly never entirely sure of the image he wants to project. With this latest collection, new party pieces pulsed with multicolored surface detail and flirtatious flash. Now the girls who gravitate toward his gala gowns can layer on the attitude for the after-party, be it a floral-embroidered and studded leather motorcycle jacket or a powder blue mink coat embroidered with flowers. A hot red leather mini featuring this same embellished motif, ruffled blouses, and a mannish ivory blazer with gold buttons and leopard all traced back toJerry HallandBrooke Shields—not the first fashion icons who come to mind when you think of Murad. Styled cleverly (and certainly not as a single look), these items stand to give the label new positioning while remaining on message.To be sure, the collection was not short on full-length drama; the ruffle-spliced lace gowns tapped into the current romantic infatuation, and thus felt more timely than the typical “tattoo effect” tease. Time will tell whether stars who come to Murad for his reliable red carpet glitz will make the leap to his floral sequined pajama-tuxedo hybrid—a look that screams out for sideline scrutiny, not all guaranteed positive. Points to Murad for going there, though.
26 January 2016
Overskirts were a big trend at Fall ’16 bridal week, but they’ve been a Zuhair Murad signature for years. The full, removable ball skirts lend an instant fairy-tale quality to any gown, and this time around, he sprinkled in a little extra magic with yards of tulle, embroideries, point d’esprit, and sparkling beads. Suffice it to say, Murad’s creations aren’t for minimalist brides.The Lebanese designer is also well known for illusion lace, which has attracted red carpet regulars likeBeyoncé,Taylor Swift, andJ.Lo. Here, it was used to risqué effect on totally sheer, close-to-the-body dresses with strategically placed guipure lace. More conservative brides can purchase a slip to wear underneath. A demure, lacy gown with a high neckline and scooped-out back was a quieter standout.
27 October 2015
From a new Paris showroom,Zuhair Muradcame across as particularly buoyant. He showed off pictures of his delicate, lacy designs for the New York City Ballet dancers and revealed that he will be designing J.Lo’s wardrobe for her gig at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, his starting point for Spring was “sailor sensuality,” which, despite the campy coupling, offered a sea of opportunity to expand on his strengths. Daywear largely consisted of nautical elements, from marinière dresses in mixed-gauge knits to wide-leg sailor pants. Sensitive to his clients’ lifestyles, he steered the theme away from fisherman and toward yacht-level luxe—standouts included the crisp, white double-breasted captain’s suit and chic separates resembling naval pennants in satiny scuba material. If the plunging-V, shorter-than-short jumpsuit in striped sequins went overboard on cheek, it’s exactly the type of piece that could prompt a celeb stylist tug-of-war.But the cheek continued with lipstick lips planted in jacquard, embroidery, and more sequins. “In each port, the women are leaving kisses,” mused Murad, who pointed out that even the monochromatic knits featured lip motifs embedded into the mesh. A coral-floral patterning reverted back to his predictable mix of sheer and sparkle. Yet the look that outshone all the others was not the least bit glitz; instead, the satin scuba had been transformed into a solid red gown, its elongated top trussed with thick grosgrain. Let’s call it five-alarm siren.
5 October 2015
No stranger to dressing stars like Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift, Zuhair Murad has been pondering the mysteries of the cosmos lately, and not for the first time. A stargazer since he was a kid, the designer explored the galaxy theme in his debut collection in 1999. Fifteen years on, he's circled back to it with a fresh take on cut, color, and texture. "I like the idea of traveling through the heavens. It's something you only see at night," he said.To that point, there was not a single piece of daywear in a 48-piece collection. Sampling freely, Murad recomposed his own galaxy on a long print dress whose planets and stars were embroidered in multicolored geometric crystals and sequins. That dress, in fact, was the genesis of the entire show, and the designer went to town showering meteors over dresses in midnight tulle and other jewel tones, pairing them with thigh-high boots and throwing in the occasional fire-red, stone-and-sequin jumpsuit with a vertiginous neckline and matching fox fur coat just for fun.True to couture tradition, the pièce de résistance was the bridal gown and train splayed with 10,000 crystal stars and sequins of various sizes, shapes, and reliefs, a monumental piece of work so elaborate it took 20 seamstresses more than one month to make. It also weighed 20 kilos (44 pounds). "It's for a unique bride," the designer allowed, quickly adding that he could think of several clients who fit that bill. If she's going to dance the night away, she might want to consider slipping into something else—the minidress embroidered entirely in silver sequins, perhaps.
9 July 2015
There was no theme to this latest collection from Zuhair Murad, who typically falls under the spell of narratives that ricochet from mythical to architectural and back again. In a way, this worked in his favor because it allowed him to present graphic, floral, shockingly pink, and femme fatale groupings all without forcing a link. But in fact, there was one—the same one that has always defined Murad as a designer: flagrantly feminine glamour.In the broadest terms, this lineup reissued all of his favorite silhouettes: requisite flounced frocks, body-con dresses, siren gowns, jumpsuits, and evening suiting. No news there. But there were some noteworthy points of interest, including a plunging-V short onesie and full skirts with bustiers precisely matched to expose a finger-width of midsection. Both looked fresh. As usual, surface detail made all the difference, from square paillettes employed to give the flower print a pixelated effect to encrustations of geometric beading that wrapped around a tulle sheath like a psychedelic ribbon. And for some, the solid shades of fuchsia, magenta, and hibiscus might be trippy enough. It's quite incredible to think that the zippered slits down bodices qualified as the collection's most restrained embellishment. A flash of side boob compared to a blitz of beading. Take your pick.
30 June 2015
Rather than any real-life celebrity, Zuhair Murad's muse for Fall was a fictional snow queen. Yes, he's aFrozenfan. But adapting a Disney film to an adult clientele is not without its challenges, even for a designer inextricably linked to fairy-tale gowns. Using one of his signature techniques—intricate embroideries on illusion tulle—Murad developed dimensional icicle geometries and crystals formed from (what else?) crystals. The shattered motif, in particular, brought more edge to his standby cocktail dresses and jumpsuits, especially when applied with considerations of negative and positive space. Rendered as a print, it proved quite wearable, but then so did the comparatively structured bell-shaped black dress in glossy satin overlaid with tulle de soie.There is no denying the workmanship in Murad's dresses; what's more, the icy theme kept him focused, both in terms of palette and pattern. His clients remain regulars expressly because he doesn't pivot much. Still, it's time for Murad to advance beyond his comfort zone, if only because both sides stand to benefit. Today, you could see one small sign of innovation in the appliqués of padded leather. They raised the bar on relief ornamentation by being equally well crafted and cool.
11 March 2015
Zuhair Murad's Spring Couture collection was an evocation of water, which played out as a spectacle of gowns that dripped with beading and frothed along the runway. Indeed, he seemed to play up every possible design metaphor: rippling embroidery, pleating in waves around the waist, Watteau backs mimicking waterfalls, whirlpools of tulle at the shoulders, plunging necklines, a swimsuit bodice with a crystal-encrusted mermaid overlay, and, as if that weren't enough, embellished boatnecks. By the show's midpoint, those in attendance had gotten the drift.Yet to Murad's credit, no two creations were entirely alike. And two outliers were particularly pretty in the way they combined pale blue printed and embroidered flowers atop a peach silk organza base and bore little relation to the theme. Another dress stood out because its bobbing back ruffle did not float with the lightness on display elsewhere. The penultimate look, a jumpsuit with a cascading skirt, could be a compelling red-carpet contender.Murad's audience consists heavily of regular clients—many flying in from Beirut, where he is based—and they often signal their approval with applause. This season, they singled out a cocktail dress with delicately embellished and scalloped batwing sleeves. The clapping also swelled for the fairy-tale wedding gown inspired byOne Thousand and One Nights.The enormous train measured 5-by-5 meters and followed the model like a tide retreating from the shore. Thankfully, she was not required to steer herself around upon reaching the end of the runway.
29 January 2015
The Cirque d'Hiver, a circus venue in Paris, offered no shortage of inspiration for Zuhair Murad. Never one to shy away from spectacle, the designer once again expressed his vision with a generous amount of embellishment for day and evening. Certainly, it wasn't such a leap for him to transpose the finery of costumes onto his red-carpet mermaid gowns, which had enough tattoo-effect embroidery (beading onto skin-toned netting) to dazzle from a great distance. All those strategically placed acanthus leaves on skin-baring bodices gave the impression of burlesque lite. Graphic stripes were less risqué but more successful; whether running down pantsuits, bisecting cocktail dresses, or swishing to and fro as beaded fringe, they had been reworked just enough to no longer evoke the big top.The news, as opposed to the theater, could be found in the fabrications: lacquered macramé decorating sleeves and necklines, delicate threaded embroidery on tulle, an "optical" spotted jacquard (tiger-ish if not for its vivid blue hue), and padded cady openwork that did not serve any particular function besides feeling pleasant to touch. This final technique was the starring element on a sharp black vest dress with puffed sides. It may have been the least showy of all the looks, but it combined ringleader tailoring with feminine mystique.
15 January 2015
Variations on a seductress theme shaped Zuhair Murad's Spring collection. In his showroom just off the Avenue Montaigne, the designer talked about his elegantgitane(French for "gypsy") inspiration. He explored florals with fresh allure via dégradé prints, peasant-style blouses, flower embellishments, ponchos, and billowy skirts. To see how Murad combined broderie anglaise, crochet, and macramé detailing into a sexed-up dress in one look and a proper front-belted jacket and trousers in another is to understand the breadth of his market. Indeed, for those who might normally associate the designer with daywear, the tailored suiting with openwork down the shoulder or thighs will be worth a glance.But Murad never loses sight of the fact that his women want to make an entrance, so this season he arrived at a grouping of nude-effect gowns with iris-shaped paneling to resemble tattoos. If they bordered on NSFW (especially if your work happens to be the red carpet), his ruby-hued dresses qualified as safer, albeit to the point of déjà vu. The designer noted that this is the first time he has introduced calf-length skirts—usually he sticks to mid-thigh or floor-grazing. He'll likely receive good response to this midi in-between, especially the lace skirts with snap fronts. They typify Murad's sweet spot of refined and risqué.
2 October 2014
Beirut has been undergoing an architectural renaissance, with Herzog & de Meuron, Norman Foster, Steven Holl, and Zaha Hadid among the starchitects making their mark on the Lebanese capital. Zuhair Murad, who is based there, saw the potential for a Couture collection built from geometry—particularly Hadid's extreme forms. To most eyes, Murad's interpretation might seem tenuous; dresses generally adhered to classic cocktail or gala silhouettes, with an occasional angular bustline, displaced hemline, or enhanced-volume overskirt. But look closely at the surface detail and you could see how the stretched, encrusted wave patterns; guipure macramé; and puzzle-piece prism motifs expressed a certain neo-futurist edge—especially when rendered in black, white, and silver (the result of hammered metallic sequins).In trading last season's precious garden inspiration for a modern cityscape, Murad nudged his aesthetic forward, even if only incrementally. To his fairy-tale wedding dress, he added a 5-meter-long veil; yet the crosshatched embroidery evoked the distinctive cladding employed by various architects today. The designer could have pushed further beyond his signature glamour comfort zone—but perhaps his clients (well-evidenced by the primped-up women sitting front-row) don't demand this of him. He mentioned that his couture customers are younger and younger—in age and also in spirit, and maybe the beaded, multicolored jump-short number will be purchased less because it represents a good investment than a youth-affirming indulgence. The penultimate look, a shimmery belted caftan, was an outlier in its Art Deco vibe; its unstudied elegance was the most modern statement of all.
9 July 2014
For nearly twenty years, Zuhair Murad's signature has been the kind of lavishly sequined, "tattoo beaded" high evening dresses that make big waves in places like Cannes. This year, the 40-year-old designer scored photo ops on three major French starlets, and Petra Nemcova donned an elaborate gown that, by the designer's own reckoning, probably added more than 20 pounds to her frame. Not that his girls complain: Women who live that level of glamour are keen enough to step out in Murad's creations. They likely don't even notice.Given that he's got nighttime wrapped, Murad has been exploring daywear of late, with more prints, more color, and more casual options like T-shirts and trousers. Nearly half the looks in the collection were for day (or day-to-night). The challenge Murad gave himself, he said, was tackling "safari chic" in a new way. "When you saysafari, it's not ordinarily a very sexy, glamorous theme," he explained. Rather than go literal with the usual big-game prints, he incorporated his signature transparency—chiffon, mesh, lace—onto khaki ramier shirtdresses with a touch of military about them. Colonial inspirations followed, with African motifs extrapolated into graphic zigzag triangles stitched onto numbers that, while beaded, nonetheless managed to appear pared-back. It wasn'tOut of Africa, but any safari offers up a pulse-racing moment or two, and on that count Murad delivered.
25 June 2014
Zuhair Murad doesn't much like insects—except for butterflies and dragonflies, beauty muses of the bug world. So for Fall, he expressed their sinuous bodies and wing shapes as custom guipure lace patterns and strategically placed cutouts. Murad pointed to a special technique that allowed a puzzle of crepe pieces to be superimposed onto jersey, and showed off python-patterned lace embroidered with the same abstracted idea. A digitally rendered print stretched wing veining into a decorative filigree. Even the leather lacing on a grouping of dresses borrowed the insects' bulbous abdomen shape, tiny as it is, for female body contouring. The most elaborate interpretation of all used openwork and embellishment across the entire torso and down the hip in a way that seemed as delicate and detailed as actual wings. Murad, who says he pored over books and examined some specimens back home in Lebanon, has become so synonymous with eveningwear that you easily forget he does daywear, too, and batwing sleeves supplied the most notable, tangentially thematic update. This luxe Lepidoptera collection allowed Murad to stretch his wings, but the OTT ornamentation was far less persuasive than a solid black crepe mermaid dress with lace godet pleats. Such relative simplicity made it a rare beauty.
4 March 2014
By one count, Zuhair Murads wedding dress alone bloomed with upwards of 25,000 floral appliqués. The mystical garden segment of his collection overall contained a multitude of camellias, roses, peonies, gentian, and more, all shimmering atop gowns, jumpsuits, and cocktail frocks. He added fauna to complement the flora: Black sequins delineated a zebra print, and feathers crept up the neck of a gauzy halter gown. Embroidery on a full-length white caftan revealed a python print down the body and panther spots along the sleeves.Outside his garden, a grouping of daywear looks featured ivory suiting—pencil skirts, trousers, open jackets—all fronted in a double row of gold buttons. The look was his Parisian ideal, Murad explained before the show. Then he singled out a New Look-style outfit in guipure lace as his synthesis of modern femininity. But if any pieces in the collection adhered to that description, they were the ones that showed off the upper back, their fabric scooped out or cross-strapped like swimsuits.This was an overzealous collection for the designer, who continues to hold firm to classic, OTT notions of couture. Even his pastel hues appeared extra saturated, as if viewed through an Instagram filter. It feels somewhat Debbie Downer to rain on Murads petal parade—and his dolled-up devotees were definitely cheering from the sidelines—but theres no question hes stronger when working in a lower register. A couple hundred fewer flowers next time, perhaps.
22 January 2014
A proven favorite of Hollywood stylists and A-list starlets, Zuhair Murad's over-the-top eveningwear demands attention on red carpets. Paparazzi flashbulbs gravitate to his signature flashy beading, see-through lace insets, and body-con silhouettes like bees to honey. The Lebanese designer's new Spring collection was inspired by Victor Vasarely, who is largely considered to be the father of Op art. "Vasarely was the master at engaging textural effects, perspective, shadow, and light to create dimension within simple planes," Murad said. Keeping Vasarely in mind, he created eye-popping motifs with clustered jet-black crystals on curve-hugging gowns, and incorporated scrolling, baroque-shaped cutouts and graphic mosaic-patterned lace on cap-sleeve sheaths and jumpsuits. In recent seasons, Murad has successfully expanded his range to include cocktail attire and separates; among these comparatively casual looks, a pair of wide-leg crepe trousers and a snug, tailored jacket with delicate Chantilly accents were the highlights. A knee-length black-and-white number with sheer panels at the sides stood out, too, mostly due to its simplicity.
29 October 2013
Kristen Stewart was seated front-row at Zuhair Murad's Couture show. Typically, celeb sightings aren't worth calling out in a review, but Stewart's support of the designer is actually very telling. When he is on his game—when he applies some restraint to his maximal style—he arrives at a tone that, in red-carpet terms, is unique. Ideally, a Murad girl wears her sensuality darkly, à la Kristen Stewart. And it was easy to imagine the actress turning up at an awards show in one of the designer's goth-glam gowns, like the slinky burgundy high-neck velvet number, with his signature tattoo-style embroidery. More than a few of Murad's lamé creations would work on Stewart, too—a gown in midnight-blue lamé, with allover Madame Grés pleating, was a particular standout among that group. He was trading between two key themes—the pleated lamé, deployed to architectural effect, and the overtly gothic, marked by lace, those Victorian necklines, and lots and lots of hand-beading in the shape of barren tree branches. The embroidery was a little overbearing at times, but in general both themes worked. Then Murad also saw fit to introduce a Deco note and some trim lace suits and more. This show could have used a stiff edit. He would do well to heed his number-one muse and ask himself: Would Kristen wear it?
3 July 2013
Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.
1 July 2013
Zuhair Murad showed his Fall ready-to-wear collection as a presentation against a backdrop of naked branches studded with bloodred roses. Sure, it made for dramatic photos, but when your reputation is so inextricably linked to the red carpet, why not just roll one out and put the dresses in their natural environment?Murad was intent on conveying the message of "Gothic Renaissance," which he said included flowers painted by Jan van Eyck (never mind that the fifteenth-century Flemish artist is better known for his portrait of a turbaned man or a married couple named Arnolfini). Art history quibbles aside, jewel-toned flowers were at the heart of this collection, whether as elaborate sequined motifs or as printed clusters on a satin minidress. They were most interesting, however, on brocade tuxedo pants traced down the sides with black jersey and paired with a diaphanous chiffon blouse. It's easy to forget that Murad can—and does—do more than fancy frocks.Add him to the long list of designers showing eveningwear with high necks, long sleeves, and lean silhouettes (as if in compromise, Murad exposed a plot of skin from the back or used panels of black polka-dot tulle for transparency). So to his credit, he's picking up on a prevailing look and not just putting out glamour for glamour's sake.Murad had already explored bold, embellished florals in his Fall '13 Couture collection, and one of those dresses ended up on Kristen Stewart last September. On one hand, she's an unlikely ambassador for the brand. But Murad explained that this collection was all about the split personality: white guipure lace versus black leather, angel versus demon. Fashion doesn't need to be so binary, though. It can make as strong a statement by exploring the middle ground.
3 March 2013