Zahair Murad: Prince of Couture

From London to Paris: Sitting on the third row in the Salon Vendôme at the Hôtel Ritz, Paris, the lights go down and Zuhair Murad’s Couture Runway show for S/S 2011 commences. Unlike his minimalist and modern colour palette of white, cream, beige, nude, gold and red, and shorter length gowns seen in his previous couture collections “Romantic Intimacy” A/W 2010 and “Officer’s Muse” S/S 2010, Murad took couture back to the 70s (such as the S/S 2011 Prêt-à-porter lines did with the neon colour palette), with a multicoloured palette and XL floor length gowns. At the same time, Murad took us back much further than the 70s, several centuries in fact, with his elaborate incarnations of Athena, Hera and Theia: Greek Goddesses. I found this to be the theme for his S/S 2011 Couture line entitled “L’Hymne au désert’ which saw jewellery as armour for the body and the dresses themselves, including gold arm bracelets, XL gold wrist cuffs, and jewelled waist belts. Of course, the runway finished with Murad’s signature bridal couture…feel like getting married tomorrow? I do not blame you! If Haute Couture had a royal family, Zuhair Murad would certainly be a prince!

Voilà, I present to you my ‘Coups de Coeur’ from this collection:

Post written by Miriam Kildare