ZUHAIR MURAD HAUTE COUTURE FALL WINTER 2017-18

I had the honour to attend Zuhair Murad’s haute couture show Fall/Winter 2017/18 which took place on 4 July 2017 in Paris at the Hôtel Potocki, a former residence of a Polish noble family named Potocki.

Zuhair Murad is synonymous with red-carpet sparkle, and there was plenty of that here, as usual. He set out to capture the beauty ideal of the Gibson Girl, a key figure of the late 19th century, with his new couture show. With her statuesque figure, her narrow waist and her royal walk, she symbolizes modernity and empowerment. She was the personification of the feminine ideal of attractiveness as portrayed by the pen-and-ink illustrator Charles Dana Gibson in the United States and Canada

This wardrobe plays with a duality between strength and delicacy. A sheath dress comes with a trail, a bodysuit is worn with a cape, and ample floor-length skirts are contrasted by plunging backlines.

Textures and textiles are juxtaposed to express the same sense of contrast: Ostrich feathers adorn hemlines, pearled fringes undulate with each movement, thistles are painted and embroidered in sequins as a wink to Art Nouveau. Details including pleated tulles and tears of ruffles add an airiness and a sense of romance to the most complex of pieces.

This ornamental and gracious allure is twisted with silk velvet layers, boleros, flounced midi skirts, boyish trousers, so as to dress a body in motion.

The palette, grey-green, powdered pink, cream, ivory, and charcoal, further suggests a sense of contemporaneity and perpetually renewed savoir-faire.