Designers Zuhair Murad Couture Spring Fashions and Runways Shows 2013 Paris

When awards season fully heats up, actresses and starlets will have more than enough options, especially after viewing Zuhair Murad’s collection whose front row counted French star Mélanie Doutey. Titled “Golden Age,” it was a painting of ultimate femininity, framed, and preserved for the ages. His show notes read like an inventory of the best specialists of embellishments: Maison Lesage and Vermont House for embroideries, Lemarié for feathers, acres of silks and tulle, sequins and pearls… Yet there was an airy feeling in this collection that will make his spring 13 woman more of a golden champagne bubble than a monumental gilded frame.

Embroideries curl up on the back of a short dress like opulent tattoos on apparently bare skin, layers of translucent fabrics reveal a limb. For all the opulence displayed, Murad achieved balance with “negative spaces” where he leaves the woman’s skin perceptible, beautifully human beneath these trappings fit for a goddess. 
The designer also has an eye for the dramatically modern, as he does the cape – undoubtedly this couture season’s key element – as an assembly of feathers painted in gold and white. When looking at creations done purely with the desire to adorn and complement the female form, perhaps it is best not to over think them, and to simply sit back and bask in their golden glow.