Nefertiti, Nefertari, Isis or Berenice: for his Couture Spring-Summer 2020 collection,
Zuhair Murad pays homage to Egyptian queens who left a mark on history by their
beauty and power.
Using a hallowed vocabulary, each piece is elevated into an exploration of timeless elegance
tinted with magic. The collar is bedecked with scintillating breastplates, each delicately
bejeweled, that illuminate the face and neckline.
The sheath dresses, which run through the collection like a golden thread, are suspended by
straps, delicately knotted at the shoulders and structured by a marked waist.
As a reverence to the Sun God, evenings gowns are adorned with capes, with incandescent
gilding and crystals, for a sensuous yet architectural effect. The sun pleats come in vermilion
or pitch black, bedecked by a majestic trail and cutouts at the chest and the back.
Yet this harmony has a distinctly modern touch: Net cocktail dresses with crossover
necklines, paired with jackets with graphic shoulder pads, belted waists and enlivened by
geometrical motifs that run along the body.
It is a true game of opacity and transparency that is at play, that allows light to shine through
in each design.
A result embellished by Egyptian symbolism, that infuses a mystical touch to the collection:
the beetle, the incarnation of the sun and fertility, the lotus flower which suggests renewal or
the cat, as a mark of divine love.
Brocard, silk tulle, silk muslin, lurex, Duchess satin suggest a proud, gleaming sense of
elegance. The palette, turquoise, vermilion, opalin, cyan and eglantine pink give a new
electrifying scope to these organic shades that evoke precious stones and natural hues,
rethought with a sense of radical luxury.
A way of suggesting that nobility is first and foremost a way of envisaging the world — and
the very notion of elegance — with equal parts of power and delicacy.
Zuhair Murad Spring Summer 2017 Haute Couture Show
Fires Waltz
A journey to Japan inspired Zuhair Murad’s Spring-Summer 2017 Couture collection, in particular the spellbinding fireworks the House founder and artistic director witnessed on the island of Miyajima.
An explosion of coloured light cloaked with the darkest night,
then reflected in the shadowy waters below.
This is the harmony, the silken thread, running throughout the collection.
Delicately re-embroidered Swarovski Crystals become incandescent filaments lighting up a jade taffeta creation sensually enveloping around the body.
The waves lapping the island are transformed into organic draping; knotting and pleating poetically figure the foamy breakers. The colours are natural, only more intense: moss green, fiery red, pink fuchsia, boldly contrasted with consummate skill.
The sky, crackling with Lurex electricity, or in soie perlée,
adorns, here a slip dress, there a corseted ball gown.
For a contemporary twist, a nod in the direction of the eighties
delivers a more angular structure, with bouffant sleeves, coattails, and DJ details richly decorated with beads.
The coming-together of the natural and the modern – timelessly elegant, opulently contemporary: such is the 2017 couture of Zuhair Murad
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This season Zuhair Murads creative spirit took a deep dive to the ocean floor. It is at the sight of the richness of the oceanic world, of this encounter between hues, textures and movements, that the collection was born.
A rich palette with organic elegance, refined yet still modern, has emerged.
A jet black strapless bustier dress is enhanced with shining tone-on-tone ruffles, in silk chiffon or lurex, like a wave that would envelop the body of the one who lives in it. An openwork design with cape sleeves and flowing draperies evolves in shades of deep blue.
Inspired by the limitless horizon of the sea, when the glittering ocean melts into the night sky, Zuhair Murad has offered his own graphic and luxurious interpretation with surgical precision. Architectural but delicate, each model offers a fluid elegance.
Beaded armholes close to the body retrace the natural grooves of sea-shells – all reworked in silke tulle or gauze.
A split skirt with multiple levels of transparency transforms the skin into a luminescent touch, draping is both glazed and diaphanous. The mother-of-pearl, made to shine both in a literal and symbolic way, appears in the form of beadwork, pleats, embroidery and radiant stitching.
In harmony with her environment but in control of her life, the woman Zuhair Murad combines strength of character and instinct with the greatest grace.
Zuhair Murad | Haute Couture Spring Summer 2020 by Zuhair Murad | Full Fashion Show in High Definition. (Widescreen — Exclusive Video/1080p — PFW/Paris Fashion Week)
Imperial Russia – or rather, a dream-like depiction – is at the heart of Zuhair Murad’s Couture 2018-19 collection.
The grand balls held by tsars in Saint Petersburg give way to a sense of aristocratic opulence.
From the Great Ball that once that marked the opening of a season to the decadent wardrobe of Elisabeth of Russia, famous for her 15 000 gowns, to Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the historical savoir-faire redefines contemporary elegance.
A bustier dress with an ivory white trail in is adorned by organic motifs or coats-of-arms, and illuminated by washed out gold beading. Another model with long sleeves, plunging neckline is embellished with tone-on-tone dusty blue guipure. Brocade is paired with Venetian velour and embroided with glimmering stones outlining arabesques – reminiscent of Fabergé eggs. A bronze velour cape envelops the shoulders; soft tulle softens strict cuts.
This femininity is layered with the period’s military wear. In a country where every professional stratum was codified via nationally approved uniforms, this nod to regulation adds a rigorous, masculine touch to the collection. Boyar-inspired jackets are punctuated royal eagles’ motifs, badges and corded detailing.
This hybridity is also expressed in a cropped A-line beaded dress in oxblood sequins with a military collar and sleeves; a dress coat in kaki satin duchess elevated with golden silk thread and paired with matching shorts, or a jumpsuit in celadon blue with chiffon sleeves and a floor sweeping cape.
The bridging of the masculine and feminine, of ornamentation and functionality, two usually opposed worlds, reflects today’s modern woman.
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