Zuhair Murad Resort 2023 Collection

Zuhair Murad’s colorful, bohemian-inflected resort collection takes its cues from unbridled nature, luminous flora, and idyllic landscapes, with selected borrowings from two abstract artists: Virginia Jaramillo, an American-born painter of Mexican heritage, and the Italian painter Carla Accardi.

Bending those elements to his will, the designer offered a broad collection focused on high color and movement, with plays on transparency, negative space, and sparkle meant to evoke the shifting reflections of light on the sea.

There’s a lot to unpack in these 80-odd pieces. Shirred dresses in peony pink, anise, and violet jersey came with dramatic cut-outs and wraparound ties studded with crystals or strass elements reprising the designer’s initials. Lamé sequined dresses in Barbie-bright pink or tangerine put body-con front and center. Gunmetal crystals shimmered on a transparent mesh column dress. A jeweled bralette offered a haute take on that trend, bringing the sass to a very (very) off-the-shoulder draped evening dress.

Murad used multiple kinds of lace as well as rare couture and contemporary embroidery techniques to amp up transparency and texture on evening numbers while, on the other hand, splicing tailored pieces together with trios of gold piercings that let slivers of skin peek through. More covered-up skirts and trousers in cady
were engineered with zippers that opened to reveal pleated chiffon details. Slightly harder to pull off were the bouffante-sleeved off-the-shoulder numbers but, like those deeply cut-out dresses, they may appeal to a demographic too young to remember the 1980s.

True to form, any number of these flowing, sequined, fringed, and flounced numbers looked red-carpet and reception-ready. But the draped satin number Mila Kunis wore to the Oscars has resulted in a fresh wave of interest in the designer’s less-embellished looks. On that note, the white cape dress with jeweled details around the shoulders and neck was all that, and universally flattering too.