In describing his spring couture collection, Zuhair Murad may have unwittingly landed the understatement of the season thus far.
“I feel now that we are in a moment, in a world, that’s a little bit dark,” the designer said backstage as he gave a lavishly draped bustier gown a final once-over. “I’m no politician and I’m not a soldier,” he added, gesturing at the elaborately embellished creations around him. “I just wanted to celebrate the light that comes after long, dark nights. Like the mood of the Renaissance after the Dark Ages.”
On the runway, Murad gave his maximalist heart free rein. Models emerged from behind a monumental chandelier slung low to the ground, their outfits like “a memory of collapsed worlds and the promise of those yet to be rebuilt,” according to the collection notes. Drawing heavily on the Italian Renaissance, the designer reinterpreted Florentine frescoes, reimagining them on corsets and Hollywood hourglass silhouettes mosaicked with beads, sequins, metallic threads, cabochons and crystals.
This season Murad wanted concentrate on a delicate sfumato of shell-like pastels because “it’s like the light inside her is shining through, in embroidery, shiny fabrics and crystals,” he said. Models appeared showered in pearls, from forehead to hairdos and shimmying tips on manicured fingers, a nod to an era when pearls were more prized than diamonds. If the jewel-like embellishments, such as a tasseled bow on a white bustier dress, or corsages on a slate blue or a seafoam green gown, seemed to reference the royal parures stolen from the Louvre last October, that was sheer coincidence, Murad assured. Further along, the jeweled theme spread to cover entire bodices and midriffs as well as full-length columns.
Not visible here is the intensive craftsmanship that also embellished the back of many creations, as if the designer had lifted ideas from some of Italy’s and France’s most celebrated royal chambers, from Versailles to Chantilly, and transposed them to panniers, overskirts and trains. “In that era, they were celebrating art and happiness and luxury,” Murad said. In his ateliers, season after season, more than 50 specialized artisans devote their days to reconstructing that world, jewel by jewel and thread by thread. “That is my tool,” he offered, “this is how we show optimism and beauty as resistance.”
