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DUBAI: Lebanese designer-to-the-stars Zuhair Murad continues to dress Hollywood’s TV and silver screen actors, with the likes of Krysten Ritter and Maria Gabriela De Faria donning his designs on the red carpet as of late.

For her part, US actress Ritter hit the red carpet at the premiere of TV series “Dexter Resurrection” in New York in a black high neck gown with silver star detailing from Murad’s ready-to-wear pre-fall 2025 collection.

Earlier this month, Venezuelan star De Faria attended the Los Angeles premiere of “Superman” in a black sequined gown with a high neckline and chiffon cape from the label’s fall 2025 collection.

“What a dream of a dress you guys gave me,” De Faria commented on the fashion house’s Instagram post about the gown this week.

Murad seems to have been heavily involved in the “Superman” press tour, dressing lead star Rachel Brosnahan for the Rio de Janeiro premiere in late June.

She wore a floor-length dress crafted from sheer navy blue fabric, adorned with geometric beadwork and sequins. The design featured a structured, plunging neckline with wide shoulder straps. The fitted bodice extended into a subtly flared mermaid-style skirt. 

Brosnahan takes on the role of Lois Lane in the upcoming film, directed by James Gunn. 

Since founding his brand in 1997, Murad has gained international attention. His creations have been worn by celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Sofia Vergara, Kristen Stewart and Scarlett Johansson on major red carpets.

He is one of a handful of Arab designers on the official Paris Fashion Week and Paris Haute Couture Week calendars.

Murad was recently championed by British Lebanese actress Razane Jammal, who wore a black gown featuring a plunging neckline and tie detail at the waist from the designer’s ready-to-wear Pre-Fall 2025 collection to the launch of the Panthere de Cartier collection in Istanbul in June.

In April, American actress Blake Lively and singer songwriter Nicole Scherzinger both wore Zuhair Murad designs to the 2025 Time 100 Gala.

Lively opted for a pink taffeta off-the-shoulder gown with a corseted bodice and train detail from Murad’s Spring 2025 ready-to-wear collection. Scherzinger chose a black off-the-shoulder sequined gown from the designer’s Pre-Fall 2025 ready-to-wear collection.

JEDDAH: Where others see scrap metal destined for the trash, Saudi artist Mishal Al-Amri sees opportunities to create artwork.

In his bustling studio in Jeddah, Al-Amri works to remove rust before cutting, rolling, shaping and joining thousands of pieces of shaped scrap metal by hand.

He has been upcycling unwanted bits of metal throughout his artistic career, which has spanned 20 years.

“The artist has an eye that sees what others cannot; an eye that captures the beauty in the heart of the damaged and neglected, and restores it to life and meaning. My ultimate hope and goal are to give scrap metal a new life,” Al-Amri told Arab News.

When growing up, Al-Amri loved to draw. As he got older, he started painting. It was not until he retired at the age of 59 that he discovered his true passion and began sculpting with recycled metal after teaching himself how to weld.

“As I said before, it was just a hobby and I stopped it for a long time after I joined the banking sector due to the difficulty of balancing the hobby, the job, and then the family later on.

“Anyhow, when I was approaching 40 years of age, and after having a family and professional job, I began to pursue my artistic journey once again. I worked on paintings during my free time and vacations, and I lived for nearly 26 years just painting, readings, attending art seminars, workshops, and holding exhibitions alongside other local artists.”

Speaking about how he started collecting scrap metal items from the street, the 65-year-old said: “The spark for this artistic journey was the first moments of an evening walk, when my eyes would trace the floor littered with scraps of plastic, scraps of iron and discarded remnants of lighting and plumbing, no longer fit for use or neglected.”

He added: “These pieces I picked up from the streets would become the core of my personal art collection — materials I plucked from the fate of neglect to submit to my ideas and participate in the creation of beauty.”

These materials can end up waiting for days and sometimes years in storage in his studio until an idea suddenly emerges.

“The journey of constructing the painting or sculpture begins; from choosing the colors and sizes of the pieces, to weaving the relationships between them into an artistic composition that gives it a new spirit.”

The ����ֱ��n Society for Culture and Arts recently hosted his first solo exhibition showcasing under the theme “The Neglected.”

“This exhibition is the fruit of those moments; an invitation to see the beauty in the unusual, and to contemplate art’s ability to redefine what is damaged and neglected to ultimately become more precious and valuable,” he said.

“My artistic experience in this exhibition is based on two complementary principles: First, protecting the environment from the effects of pollution and human-caused damage, by collecting remnants of harmful materials in the soil and saving them from becoming a burden on the earth.

“Second, sustaining the usefulness of objects, by recycling them and using them in the field of art after their original function has ended, reborn as works of art that convey an aesthetic, humanitarian and environmental message.

Al-Amri says that he plans to continue creating scrap metal sculptures and paintings.

“On a personal level, I want to reopen the Cezanne Fine Arts Center, which I founded years ago and continue to cultivate art until its very end.

“On a more general level, I strive to raise environmental awareness, enabling people to respect and preserve the environment.”