The Zuhair Murad woman lives to dress for a moment—even, or perhaps especially, when she’s on vacation and in no particular hurry to go anywhere. Entitled “When the Sun Whispers,” the designer’s spring collection found her along the Mediterranean coast, its vibe filtered through the colors of ancient ceramics and Murano glass, streamlined shapes, featherlight fabrics and an occasional assist from the Impressionist gaze or a lashing of la dolce vita.
Relaxed glam was the baseline, but this shift felt bigger than it sounds at a house mainly associated with super-production weddings and red-carpet moments. To wit, just this week Teyana Taylor chose Murad’s sheer, fully embroidered, feather-trimmed black coat gown from his latest couture outing for the MTV Video Music Awards.
For spring, ease came with an array of craftsy touches, in crochet, braiding, weaving and passementerie. A white cotton poplin dress worked in macramé was left open in back, macramé lace slipped over a lingerie bustier, and an asymmetrical tunic dress in terracotta crepe had a breezy scarf detail with a wide swath of fringe (to be worn alone or with matching trousers). That color has the quiet advantage of being almost universally flattering, and it returned in several iterations including on a wrap jacket with a scarf detail, cinched with resin rings.
The designer’s taste for maximalism came in embellishments inspired by underwater fauna: brooches recalled sea anemones on a chocolate brown halter dress or a soft yellow shift, for example. Even so, most textures were tonal and informed by life on the Mediterranean rim. Dresses in illusion tulle came elaborately worked with impressions of ripples and shells left on the sand at low tide, bustiers were woven like an elevated take on the caning of café chairs, and fruit—papaya, strawberries, cherries and so forth—appeared as jeweled embroideries or, playfully, on costume jewelry.
Even formal dressing was relaxed, whether in modernized caftans or gowns with most of the action concentrated in back: a white cady slip dress revealed a bare back cinched by slim straps, a soft pink Mikado silk gown with a draped bodice came punctuated with an oversized bow, and corseted, lacy or draped bustiers did the heavy lifting over clean, beautifully cut separates. New to the evening accessory lineup was a simple, supple leather clutch and an ever-expanding lineup of statement costume jewelry.
