For the Spring 2017, Zuhair Murad riffs on elegance in its most subjective, here-and-now diversity, embracing the curves of the fifties and flirting with the playfully geometric spirit of the sixties to kindle a sense of truly contemporary womanhood, pairing post-war volumes and a sixties vibe with an overlay of memories: flared skirts, refined basques and bustiers, strictly chic pencil dresses and cigarette pants, the flirtatious architecture of corsets, pinched waists, willowy figures, dramatic décolletages, red-carpet sheaths and sheer glamour shapeliness. The collection is a festival of grace, deployed in blacks, whites, and crisp pastel shades of Parma violet, blue, pink, and poudre. Ladylike at first glance, the silhouettes also channel the wayward side. The forceful brilliance of line is carried along by untrammelled graphic energy in wave after wave of geometric invention: sequinned and molten metal embroidery, sensual ardour and mirror effects reflecting energy as edgy as it is exquisite, carried along on a rushing tide of mikado, jacquard, lace, chiffon, muslin, mesh…. In the mingling of generations and characters, urbane allusions and sharp contrasts fuse with the most exhilarating now-ness: here a period spencer reworked as a bomber jacket, there a pocket of jumpsuits – the go-to item in up-to-the-minute wardrobes – followed by a flutter of sexy minis and crop-tops. Sassy transparency. It all speaks to freewheeling twenty-first century allurement. The kind of allurement bent on wielding the power – and having fun with it.
