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.
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