Zuhair Murad Couture Fall–Winter 2025/26: The Golden Age, Reinvented

For his Fall–Winter 2025/26 Couture collection, Zuhair Murad evokes Hollywood's golden age—not to celebrate it as it was, but to reshape its destiny. Entitled “A Sheer Desire,” this new haute couture line, presented in Paris, transforms the mythical heroines of the 1930s and 40s into sovereign, self-aware, and triumphant figures. Here, glamour no longer condemns. It liberates.

Inspired by the silhouettes of Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, and the archetypes of film noir, the collection subverts the codes of a cinema that glorified its icons only to punish them. Murad reverses this trajectory. His woman doesn't fall. She rises.

A golden opening, between splendor and mastery

From the very first looks, the light is all-encompassing. Long dresses embroidered with gold, illusion fur coats, artfully structured transparencies: the silhouette captures the brilliance as if under the spotlights of a studio set. Shades of warm brown, honey, and champagne envelop the body in an almost cinematic richness. Sensuality is embraced, but never abandoned. At Zuhair Murad, transparency doesn't weaken—it affirms.

The couture illusion, between light and skin

The palette gradually lightens. Velvety beiges, patinated ivory, and powdery golds appear in illusion dresses embroidered with pearls and crystals. The body emerges like a mirage, sculpted by light. Precious chains, shimmering fringes, tulle, and chiffon interact with the skin in a perfectly orchestrated chiaroscuro. Each dress is a role, each look a close-up. The Murad woman no longer endures the narrative—she tells it.

Fatal red, dramatic glamour

Then the tension mounts. The colors deepen: burgundy, incandescent garnet, intense plum. The silhouettes gain in density, in gravity. Draped knots, strong shoulders, opulent embroidery: the glamour becomes direct, almost theatrical. These dresses evoke conflict—between passion and authority, desire and control—without ever descending into tragedy. Here, desire is not a flaw. It is a sovereign force.

Opulence Reclaimed

A defining element of the collection, fur—ethical and synthetic—stands out as a silent manifesto. Sumptuous, embroidered, and enveloping, it is no longer an inherited ornament but a reclaimed symbol. Murad transforms it into a soft armor, a powerful sanctuary that frames the silhouette without ever overwhelming it. The interplay of materials reaches its zenith: velvet versus tulle, structure versus fluidity, opacity versus transparency. The opulence is no longer merely decorative—it is a deliberate statement.

Black couture and baroque apotheosis

The finale plunges into the night. Deep blacks, illusion dresses studded with crystals, sculpted ensembles with cinched waists. Embroidery—the beating heart of the Zuhair Murad house—reaches a baroque peak here. Pearls, cabochons, and damask patterns evoke Hollywood studio sets, while simultaneously propelling couture into radical modernity. Trompe-l'œil becomes a language, light sculpts the body.

With “A Sheer Desire,” Zuhair Murad pays homage to the great costume designers of cinema—Edith Head, Jean Louis, Adrian—without ever succumbing to nostalgia. He doesn't quote, he transforms. This Fall–Winter 2025/26 Couture collection explores the in-between: between strength and grace, masculine and feminine, memory and future.

In contrast to a patriarchal Hollywood that condemned its icons to dull destinies in order to better contain their brilliance, Murad restores the glory that was promised to them.

His muse does not disappear into the shadows.

She walks forward, radiant, towards the end credits. This time, she chooses her exit.