Elie Saab (Q3001)
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Elie Saab is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Elie Saab |
Elie Saab is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
1982
creative director
On learning that the conceptual points of departure for Elie Saab’s spring collection were “the sultry African air” and “sun-soaked savannah days beneath endless blue skies,” as this season’s show notes read, this reviewer will concede that they braced for what was to come. After all, while “safari chic” is a well-established fixture of the contemporary fashion vernacular—most recently and memorably revived in Anthony Vaccarello’s spring collection last year for Saint Laurent—its contemporary connotations aren’t too chic in 2024.Fortunately, what Saab showed today at the Palais de Tokyo managed to swerve the colonial nostalgia that many designers exploring similar territory have, perhaps inadvertently, previously invoked. Rather than romanticized visions of the characters one associates with the intrepid “exploration” of the African continent, here the Lebanese designer’s heart-fluttering fantasy drew upon the wealth of its myriad sublime landscapes.Okay, there were a number of riffs on safari suits—as roomy linen separates or fluid crepe jumpsuits with shrugged-up sleeves—but rather than the default khaki, they came in the hues of fireball lilies, elephant gray, and the ochre dust blown across West Africa by the Harmattan gusts. Raffia pieces were a particular standout, with the plant fiber delicately woven into low-slung skirts and long-sleeve minidresses with faint bubble hems and featuring fern embroidery on floor-grazing tulle gowns.Of course, given the source material, animalia touches were inevitable—and, really, Saab would’ve been remiss not to lean in here. Military jackets, sweeping chiffon gowns, and cinched Saharienne coatdresses were decorated in textured micro-leopard prints, though their potentially brash effect was tempered, reading more like a sultry purr than a campy roar.Foliage, too, served as a key motif throughout, with lush rainforests lending their palettes to everything from structured, belted pantsuits to wind-catching cape dresses. The most dazzling translations, however, came through decadent emerald embroideries of palm fronds on a suite of glove-fit chiffon evening gowns. Though it might be argued that this section could have been edited down, gauging by the amount of strass-y evening looks spotted in the front row, the dresses will swiftly find homes in wardrobes the moment they arrive in stores.
28 September 2024
The first look of Elie Saab’s couture show today was a form-fitting mermaid number in black velvet. A swishing train hinted at drama, but no embellishment was in sight—by Saab’s standards, it was an unusually pared-down opener. “I was looking at what I did in the ’90s, and I felt that it still looked fresh, so I wanted to reference that, as proof that my work has been consistent all along,” he offered at a preview.The first half of the show was a progression from pitch-black into deep tones of ruby and emerald green, with variations on sinuous, sleek shapes, sparsely embroidered or ornate with tone-on-tone flourishes of feathers or flower appliqués. Plays of draping, an abundance of ruching and layers of veiling lace didn’t feel redundant, as they were somehow subdued by the nocturnal palette, conveying a Gothic opulence that was a counterpoint to the usual golden goddess radiance of Saab’s creations. Here, he wanted to hint at a more mysterious, extravagant side of femininity: “In beauty, too much perfection becomes boring,” he said.As if emerging from darkness, the shimmer of moonlight-silver sequins graced gowns more sumptuous and generous in volume, richly embroidered and crystal-beaded on sensual see-through chiffon and organza. The finale made for a peak of lavishness, much in keeping with Saab’s penchant for showstoppers:la mariéedress was a cloud of a concoction in blush tulle, intricately embroidered in curlicues of pale gold, with a train so regal it would be fit for a royal wedding.
26 June 2024
Elie Saab’s resort collection lands amid a whirlwind: Last month, the designer unveiled a 26-look capsule of see-now-buy-now collaboration with the Istanbul-based retailer Ipekyol. He’s also moving ahead with a first branded residential tower in Abu Dhabi, putting the final touches on a couture collection for Paris, and preparing an “Elie’s World” extravaganza to be held in Riyadh this fall. Clearly, Saab and his studio love a challenge, or several.Yet judging by this outing, all is cool, calm, and la dolce vita chez Saab. There’s a personal subtext to this collection’s infatuation with 1950s romance, the many splendors of Cinecittà, and the graceful statues in the Giardini di Villa Melzi. When the house first branched out from its home base in Beirut, Mr. Saab found a warm welcome in Italy.Here, the designer blended his established signatures—well-defined cuts, a variety of volumes, the shimmy of tiered fringe, oodles of lace, embroidery, and floral macramé—with an expanded daywear offering, in line with his goal of “accompanying women from morning to night.” While many of these looks may be relaxed by Saab’s standards, they’re hardly “casual wear”: they’re more like reworked staples, moving from crisp flares, denims, and jumpsuits with ultra-feminine cuts to workwear shapes in noble materials and a breezy ensemble in white cotton poplin with an Italianate floral etched out in black and sky blue. The designer took a savvy approach to occasion wear: wedding guests will have plenty to choose from and wear on repeat, and there was even a number or two to suit the minimalist bride. A lineup of desert sunset hues—“garden lily pink,” “cappuccino,” and coppery rose—looked universally flattering, too.
19 June 2024
“It’s all about rock and roll, but my way,” Elie Saab offered backstage before a show he called Melodies of Graceland, which he described as “feminine, subtle, light—even the boots are refined and elegant.” The show notes, which evoked a night on the town in Memphis, said the collection was meant to resonate even beyond Elvis and iconic images of Priscilla Presley.Graceland by way of Las Vegas came with threeF’s—feathers, flowers, and fringe—essentially used tonally. The feathers cropped up variously as tufts of ostrich plumes on a gradient blush knit, as trim on a glistening black satin trench, or full on for a Roitfeldian black feather-fur coat paired with over-the-knee boots. Florals took a dark, dramatic turn in romantic, fully sequined numbers in moody hues of mauve, khaki, and mustard, or appeared as voluminous swirls on a belted khaki overcoat or a white evening coat worn by Jessica Stam. Country-glam fringe was mostly used with restraint, and those looks were the stronger for it.For daytime, Saab offered his rock-and-roll ladies his take on the essential jean jacket in dark denim with his logo styled in gold stitching at the shoulders like a Western motif; that piece was paired with a matching miniskirt, but two jumpsuit styles with swingy wide legs provided a more covered-up option. The designer also played with lace embroidery and macramé, working them into beaded paisley motifs with a ’70s vibe.Beyond Memphis and Vegas, the Saab world is in full expansion mode. In April, the house will launch a furniture line at the Milan Furniture Fair, and in November, it will take to the stage for an extravaganza in Riyadh.“It’s going to be a new vision of fashion,” Saab said. “Fashion, entertainment, everything all together. It’s going to be huge.” His son, Elie Jr., noted that having tripled business in the last five years, the brand is looking to triple it again in the next five. In the meantime, when the Elie Saab extravaganza rolls around next season, the designer’s loyal base will have plenty of swish, sparkle, and shine to choose from for the party.
3 March 2024
Elie Saab has never met a dazzling embellishment he didn’t like. Out of the 64 looks in his couture collection, only six were in solid colors devoid of decorations—three dresses in various tones of red silk, a sculpted ballgown in shell-pink silk duchesse, a draped concoction in cerulean gazar, and a flowingrobe de soirin chartreuse lamé. The rest was a glitzy parade of encrusted laces, crystal embroideries, gold-trimmed cutouts, organza petals, and feathers rendered into 3D flower-shaped appliqués.Those feathery flowers decorated the majestic trailing cape Jennifer Lopez wore at the show, making an entrance that sent photographers into overdrive. Once things calmed down, she sat regally in her front row seat, taking in the flow of pastel-hued evening dresses, whose slender silhouettes were given boosts by way of undulating side panels, cape-sleeves, bell sleeves, and stoles variously elongating into regal trains. “I like royalty,” Saab said backstage.The craft that goes into Saab’s repertoire is astounding; every couture season he travels from Beirut with his entire atelier, the members of whom translate the designer’s flair for splendor into countless lavish renditions. Saab creations seem to inhabit a fantastical place out of fairy tales, yet his star-studded front row gave a clear indication that, while his imagination this season traveled “to the magic of Marrakesh and of the mystery of the desert rose,” his feet are firmly planted in red carpet territory. Like any other designer at couture, he’s eyeing the Oscars opportunities.
24 January 2024
Elie Saab is in a 1970s state of mind. Like the styles of that time, his pre-fall collection covers a lot of territory. But he had one muse in mind overall: the inimitableVogueeditor Diana Vreeland. In her spirit, he titled the collection Perfectly Marvelous.The designer also took other of her admonishments to heart, as he explained in a showroom interview. “Never be boring!” was one, for example. “There’s a magic about that period, and not just because of liberation, there were also the flares, the prints, the shoes,” he said. “I loved that period because I lived it, but also because I opened my eyes to the world during that time, and in the end it’s always present in everything I do.”Saab, who turns 60 this year, said that free-spirited American style is a constant source of inspiration for him. On the rack, mod florals mingled with graphic cut-outs, zebra stripe prints and sequins, pleats and, especially, flared trousers, paired to photogenic effect with a voluminous bustier. “In my head, I am very American when we talk about fashion, in terms of flattering silhouettes,” he said. “I’m very straightforward. Americans have an easy freedom: They were the first to put a pullover with an embroidered skirt. A white t-shirt with jeans and a bag that costs $100,000. I love that mix.”He also rocked out on sleight of hand, treating satin to look like leather and lasering it into into broderie anglaise, lavishing tweeds with sequins, or giving a bomber a malachite finish. “It’s daytime with a couture touch,” Saab offered. It also showed a certain restraint, relatively speaking, offering his clientele versatility while also dovetailing with an ever-expanding lifestyle galaxy of perfumes, bags, and (soon) interiors. As Vreeland also said, “the eye has to travel.”
9 January 2024
Once past the throng of fans, guests at Elie Saab’s spring presentation were greeted by a monumental rendering of earth’s pockmarked companion. Even before the show started, ladies dressed to the nines—and not a few men—jockeyed to catch a moon shot for digital posterity.Backstage, meanwhile, the designer was hovering close by a makeshift studio to approve a few last-minute photos. Although his spring collection was titled Moonlight Shadow and inspired by the women around him (first among them his wife, Claudine), Saab explained that the celestial theme was mostly figurative. Instead of sticking to nighttime, he’s leaning into day. “We’ve had such big success with cotton dresses because they’re so glamorous and fresh you can wear them day and night,” he said. He added that he is aiming to bring his couture mind-set to daylight hours, “but it’s important to keep things light.”On the runway, the moon theme took the form of polka dots—one of spring’s most salient motifs—in black on white cotton poplin, or in the gridwork of white summer tweed. It also cropped up in petal-like halves on fine macramé dresses with accent colors like sage green and dusty rose spliced with lace. Or as part of a constellation of metallic embellishments showered over a little black minidress. Or a meteor shower of strass on evening looks. Intensive craftsmanship was particularly evident on two dresses—one long, the other short—that seemed to transcribe lunar topography to yellow, pink, and bronze appliqués embroidered on a sheer base.Elsewhere, Saab opted for strong monochrome statements, sending out safari-inspired ensembles in white or “cosmopolitan pink,” and a “coral spritz” dress in embroidered tulle. Some looks seemed to be offering his usually bejeweled clientele a twofer, with important-looking gems cascading in trompe l’oeil down the front of an otherwise pristine white cape dress. Another savvy move: admirable restraint with logos. Saab’s insignia appeared tonally on his version of English lace or as glittery brooches anchoring fluid, draped evening dresses. But some of the inspirations here were too universal for that (a sunburst of gradient moons comes to mind).Night or day, there was plenty here to delight a clientele that, in addition to a brand-new shop in Monte Carlo, can look forward to what Saab’s son and CEO, Elie Jr., described as “an important expansion” in the next year or so.
1 October 2023
Couture will always be a way of transporting women’s imagination into a realm of fantasy, Elie Saab said backstage before today’s show. He hasn’t wavered from his beliefs since the inception of his Beirut-based couture house in the ’80s.Saab is known for the lavishness of his embroideries; intricacy of decoration is almost a built-in quality of his designs, somehow ruling over his clothes’ shapes and silhouettes, which are kept fairly simple and flattering. No plays of cutting-edge volumes or boundary-pushing constructions chez Saab, rather an abiding loyalty to the classic canons of appealing beauty that his clients continue to appreciate.The collection’s inspiration was drawn from period movies set in the Middle Ages, a moment in time when glamour wasn’t at its apogee, really. Yet Saab transformed the monastic medieval lines of capes, trailing trains, and décolletages into a lavish, dramatic celebration of opulence. Sequined embroideries grimped over the surface of flimsy chiffon gowns with small fitted bodices, often worn with matching capes or veils covering the head. In Saab’s hands, the Middle Ages burst with a luminosity they surely never had.Interspersed with soft-pink chiffon numbers heavily embroidered in silver and cape dresses in dramatic black velvet studded with more pearls the Black Sea could provide, a flow of plain-colored gowns in emerald green velvet, or in amethyst silk duchesse looked luscious. Refreshingly devoid of ornaments, they underlined Saab’s ability to play with silhouette-flattering, soft-draped shapes, without necessarily indulging in his signature decorative flair.
5 July 2023
Elie Saab dubbed his resort 2024 collection The Swan in honor of the original specimen, Marella Agnelli. “I never knew her, unfortunately, but I know her grandson and lots of people who were around her,” the designer said over Zoom from his home base in Beirut.“She was a woman of rare style who left her mark on fashion with chic and lots of class. I’ve always been inspired by her allure and aristocratic poise.” From where he stands, he added, that kind of Italian elegance and art de vivre radiates all around the Mediterranean, touching a broad swath of his base.Saab approached resort in three chapters, moving from an urban, structured mood to “more amusing” and, lastly, romantic pieces. While the collection could be neatly defined by a silk kaftan in pink-to-mauve ombré with a jeweled-brooch closure, other offerings—such as a plunging ecru knit dress with gold-edged pleating—likewise could suit most any type of morphology.Saab has been leaning in on daywear of late. Here he showed off his tailoring skills with peplum tops and jackets in “moon shadow” white crepe, a sharp black trench, or a cherry red tweed jacket with matching shorts. A white cotton shirt-kaftan with guipure reprising the brand’s insignia looked crisp and summery.Nighttime, however, is where the designer’s heart is. Party rompers, beaded strapless midi-dresses, and gold lamé halter tops kept company with curve-hugging black jersey dresses outlined with gold chains or quintessential, floaty gala gowns in sage green, aquamarine, or magenta. Even the embroideries the designer favors seemed restrained, cropping up in pale pink flowers and green stems on a bustier gown or a gold flower placement on a single-breasted midnight blue overcoat. Whether for day or night, the simplest looks were the strongest.The resort collection, the designer noted, is “for women who travel, but with the same codes in a different way.” By the time this review is live, those customers will have a shiny new Elie Saab outpost to check out in Monte Carlo. That will be soon followed by another in Sao Paolo—just two instances of the brand‘s fresh push toward new horizons.
19 June 2023
As an art collector, Elie Saab tends to gravitate to modern works—Picasso, for example. But for fall the designer was in a Renaissance mood, offering up darkly romantic floral motifs with forest, ruby and citrine blooms.“For me, women’s beauty is the most inspiring thing about any collection, but you still need inspiration for color and form,” the designer offered backstage before the show. Business is brisk, he added, as social engagements come roaring back. “There’s lots of everything right now,” he said.That held true on the runway, too, with a collection Saab described as “speaking to the 15-year-old and the 100-year-old.” There were plenty of covered-up numbers for the older set, but the energy came through in the kind of fare beloved by the younger crowd that filled the front row, dressed to the nines. That included transparent, sequin-strewn skirts and minis with painterly flowers or diamanté or feather accents; lingerie-inspired corsets or flowers in bold, black macramé and lace (perhaps with a jaunty fedora by Borsalino), and a few puffers embellished in flowers or ostrich feathers to keep out the chill. Organic 3D embroideries, in this season’s requisite acid yellow tones, perhaps mixed with cool blue and pink pastels on a halter gown, also made a strong statement for evening.With father and son working side by side, the house has recently redefined its strategy, resulting in 55 percent growth in business this past year, Elie Saab Jr. toldVogue: “It took us a lot to get to where we are today, but the recovery was more important than the growth we had in the past.”A push into the lifestyle and home categories is helping to build momentum, alongside boutique openings in Milan, Riyadh, Qatar, St. Barts, St. Tropez, and soon Monaco. Add to that a burgeoning family of cosmetics, accessories, and a new perfume, Elixir, launching next week, and Saab’s garden appears lush indeed.
5 March 2023
Elie Saab didn’t hold back this season, indulging his passion for couture gowns so resplendent, it seemed that all the sequins on the planet had been lavishly poured over the collection’s 69 looks. “I wanted to convey a regal feel, a brilliance; I love the idea ofmajesté,” he said backstage before today’s show.Saab imagined that each piece was bathed in the golden aura of dawn, in a land blessed by eternal sunshine. His creations seem to inhabit a place of fantasy, where opulence and grandeur reigns supreme. Yet his front rows today were populated by real clients dressed to the nines who looked ecstatic at the prospect of filling their wardrobes with more fabulousness. Minimalism and understatement do not have a place in Mr. Saab’s universe, and certainly not in his clients’ closets.Every gown was a tour de force of magnificent embroideries, appliqués,passementeries, and embellishments of all sorts. Crystals and pearls were lavished on elaborate tight-fitted mermaid dresses in tones of aqua, delicate pink, and cerulean blue. Abstract motifs loosely inspired by Asian imagery swirled on tight heart-shaped bodices and corsets, on the trains of sinuous peplums, or on sumptuous capes and opera coats in smooth silk duchesse.Saab’s models were escorted by men dressed in equally sumptuous attire. Apparently the designer has a faithful male clientele, who delight in his lavishly decorated suits, tailcoats and caftans, all cut in ivory featherlight cashmeres and wools. Chez Saab, vanitas is definitely a virtue, regardless of gender.
25 January 2023
Elie Saab took a break from prepping his upcoming couture show to Zoom about his pre-fall lineup. On paper, these categories of fashion are about as far apart as possible. Being custom, couture is the most individual form of dressmaking; because the pre-collection sits the longest on the selling floor, its appeal must be a bit broader. Saab’s aim, however, was to build a kind of bridge between the two—to bring a “couture touch” to ready-to-wear.This was the most convincing daywear I’ve seen from Saab maybe because he skipped any references to focus on the basics: color, shape, fabric. Most surprising was the designer’s choice to work with scuba fabrics and it paid off in the form of a red, floral appliqué dinner dress with a pretty portrait neckline and the “hug”-like fit typical of the material.Sophistication was what Saab was after, and he achieved it in terms of palette, by focusing on “recherche” grenadine rather than red, for example. The designer has tried “hoodies” before but this season’s models, paired with midi skirts, were convincing. He cut his pants full, which is in line with what we’ve been seeing throughout the season. Ditto the lacy white lingerie dresses. These, like many other pieces made use of fil à broder (thread embroidery), a conscious choice on the part of Saab, who was more focused on lightness and simplicity than glitz this season.
10 January 2023
Elie Saab went for a lighter, fresher take on his über-goddess look for summer, ditching extravagant embellishments in favor of delicate embroideries, crisp cottons, romantic broderie anglaise, and handcrafted crochets. “I was just in the mood for something easy to wear, airy like a summer breeze,” he said, waxing poetic backstage.The attitude he wanted to convey was “relaxed, joyful, confident but gentle.” To that end, he started the collection with a flow of immaculate white ensembles, fresh and attractive, to which textured surfaces added a delicate visual impact. A gardenia-white midriff-baring brassière and matching slim ankle-grazing wrap skirt were hand crocheted in rosette motifs, while a sporty hoodie in flimsy chantilly lace embroidered with sequins was a counterintuitive proposition, yet it looked appealing paired with a sheer, flowy long skirt. On the same note, a fitted-bodice long slipdress was exquisitely rendered in pristine, snow-white broderie anglaise.As the saying goes, a leopard can’t change its spots, and you can’t take the flamboyance and sense of drama out of the Lebanese designer. Albeit toned down, his love for elaborate embellishments and a grand entrance resurfaced in a series of fitted tulle dresses with delicately intricate floral appliqués, as well as in regal, billowy sweeping numbers, resplendent in vibrant hues of emerald green, coral and iris: not a viable option to fly under the radar, really. But that certainly wasn’t the intention of the front row at today’s show. Looking invisible has never been an appealing prospect to Monica Bellucci, Eva Longoria and Olivia Palermo, or for the crowd of dressed-to-the nines, glamorous Saab clients.
1 October 2022
Peacocks of the world, rejoice! Elie Saab has launched a men’s couture line for which the word ‘flamboyant’ is an understatement. Presented at today’s show, it rivals in opulence his women’s, and boasts the sumptuous embellishments and embroidered intricacies that are Saab’s signature.“I’ve been receiving requests to dress men for quite some time,” explained the Lebanese designer backstage. “They want to show off, to be visible, to get the attention.” Rest assured, they’ll receive loads of it in any one of the many headturners Saab has concocted.The sense of drama and the goût for the spectacular agree with Saab, and there was no lack of either in both lines. The first two looks were equally majestic, both intricately carpeted with multicolored plumage intarsia on black velvet. For her, a sweeping floor-length ball gown with criss-crossed ribbons on the bodice; for him, a regal cape embroidered in a mosaic of wispy feathers, worn over a tailored black velvet tux. If you want to make a jaw-dropping entrance, Saab is definitely your go-to guy.A theme of flame red and black kept the first part of the collection on a high-drama note. Black mesh see-through gowns were heavily embroidered with serpentine curlicues, which were repeated on the men’s generous caftans, while shapely sculptural column dresses in deep red taffeta had cloud-like sleeves poufed up to the ears. Then Saab took a turn for the dreamy, but without letting the pyrotechnics out of the picture. “I was thinking about how the light turns magical, into pink gold at dusk, after the sunset and before the evening,” he mused. A parade of powder pink and nude mesh tulle numbers followed. Variously shaped but all equally glamorous, they were bathed in shimmering sequins in every possible dimension, together with beaded fringes, embroidered tassels, drippings of crystals, and appliqués of organza petals.Offered in pink and gold hued brocade, masculine suits with cropped tuxedos were wrapped in trailing stoles encrusted with lace. Billowy capes in hammered silk were worn over matching slim trousers, and paired with bohemian black poet shirts. Peacocks will have to prove their worth, if they want to show off their plumage in Saab’s unabashedly sumptuous attires.
6 July 2022
Resort, says Elie Saab on the phone from Lebanon, is a “play between image and commercial.” The poster girl of this collection is nominally the Bond Girl. Saab stresses that the reference isn’t literal. What he extracted from that trope was a way of being in the world—strong and confident—and a smorgasbord of ’60s references, including geometric minis, Marguerite embroideries (very Saint-Tropez), a psychedelic print, and dresses with jewelry-like hardware that have a jauntiness one might expect of an Aki or a Honey Rider.Speaking of prints, Saab has gone all in on logos for resort, citing the success of earlier versions. These dip heavily toward the commercial end of the spectrum. In contrast an abstraction of his sinuous logo into a design motif was a solid win.The designer is a romantic at heart, and no Saab collection would be complete without a touch of romance. That’s delivered via some beautifully beaded dresses that bring together the season’s palette of chartreuse, lilac, white, and blue, in a composition as sparkling and lovely as Claude Monet’s impressionist Water Lily paintings, which they vaguely resemble.
15 June 2022
At the Palais de Tokyo, Elie Saab was determined to pick up where he left off. A pandemic, a devastating explosion in his native Beirut, his country’s subsequent financial collapse, and now war in Europe—none of them were going to stop the Lebanese couturier from showing his ready-to-wear collection to a crowd of adoring clients, plus assembled press and buyers. The front row was loaded with the professionally sleek—Toni Garrn, Lais Ribeiro with her basketballer fiancé Joakim Noah, and Coco Rocha—and the catwalk boasted their one-time Victoria’s Secret colleague Cindy Bruna. They whooped as she sashayed past in a skin-tight black dress trimmed with sequined ruffles.Backstage, Mr. Saab said he felt like “it was time” for a catwalk show, which was a much bigger affair than his couture presentation in January. “It’s been two years of suffering,” he said, before he was interrupted by Olivia Palermo, a coterie of well-wishers in her wake. The collection was an A to Z of his greatest hits: glamorous evening dresses with elegant caped shoulders, rhinestone-spangled LBDs, heavily embroidered sheer gowns with accordion pleats. A little more adventurous were the sequin- and feather-strewn bomber jackets paired with black mini dresses and styled with heavy, lug-soled boots rather than the requisite skyscrapers. He even sent out a hoodie, albeit a giant green taffeta one. “It’s about strong women, strong characters, a little rock ‘n’ roll,” he said.Despite everything, the business is ticking along. Jennifer Lopez wore two dazzling Elie Saab couture looks for a recent concert; this week Saab opened a dedicated showroom for his Maison homewares line in Paris, adding to the two he has in Beirut and Milan. Asked how life was going back home, he replied: “We try to survive, like everyone.”
6 March 2022
A Mediterranean summer seems like a faraway notion when it’s three degrees and the depressing kind of cloudy in Paris, the pandemic adding an extra dimension of souffrance to the current couture proceedings. But Elie Saab, the pioneering Lebanese couturier, is nothing if not forward-looking. He was determined to sprinkle his spring couture collection with organza bougainvillea, the ultimate signifier of summer sunshine at his first physical show in two years. A hearty 55 looks in a lush spectrum of full-skirted silhouettes and bedecked with frivolous feathers, rhinestones, beads, and sequins to a soundtrack of cicadas—the collection is a bid to give his customers what he insists they both want and need more than ever: joy.For spring he’s preoccupied with color in deep bursts rather than the more faded tone-on-tone combinations he has been known to favor. “Clients like color—they like to enjoy life again after hard times,” he said, simply, speaking backstage. So too satin, which he said was a first, and taffeta, which he pumped up with tulle. He also experimented with mini lengths among the mushrooming skirts. One of the best looks was a fringed raspberry and silver minidress, sporting a giant floral corsage on one shoulder Carrie Bradshaw-style; you could see a Hollywood starlet snapping it up for awards season.There was a backdrop of grief behind all the glitz. Thirty-two years after the Civil War ended in Lebanon, the country is battling its worst economic crisis in decades. Saab looked wistful when asked how it felt to represent his country in the highest echelons of fashion. “Optimistic? I tell you honestly, I don’t know. Because the situation is too big,” he said. Nevertheless, he insisted it felt good to be back in Paris. “I feel like Paris is my second home. I feel a big responsibility, [holding a show again] feels like the first time. After two years, a lot of people change their minds about what is precious. I believe this difficult period has let everybody come up with a new plan for their life.”That said, Saab clients all over the world still come to him for dresses that, to borrow from British slang, engineer a “shut the front door” reaction (read: surprise!). In Lebanon, where bridal still remains one of Saab’s biggest categories, newly betrothed women are still clamoring for a jaw-dropping dress, the likes of which closed the show. A wedding might be 100 people rather than 1,000 people but the sense of ceremony remains. Saab shrugged.
“We have hope, everything comes back to hope.”
26 January 2022
Color. Sequins. Feathers. Daywear. These are the four main elements of Elie Saab’s pre-fall collection, in the order that they hit me. The designer will present his couture in a couple of weeks, but it’s easy to imagine some of these dresses being worn to the Oscars.There’s a lot of energy in this collection, which includes dressy day options, some made using menswear fabrics, which is unusual for this label. A beautiful cashmere coat is one standout. Still, it’s the couture-like touches that Saab brought to glamorous dresses that command most of the attention. The palette, which includes violet, fern green, brick red, and deep teal, among other shades, is sophisticated and rich, and the monochrome looks are as stunning as the elaborately worked ones. Besides the gradient beading and featherwork, the patterns and prints looked fussy. “People want to be happy, want to be special,” said Saab, and they want that now. The most striking looks in this collection are also the most direct ones.
14 January 2022
Lady Gaga wore an Elie Saab Haute Couture gown embroidered with shimmering sequins and crystals onstage at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s opening night gala last month. She was a glamorous sight. Saab is never not going to be known first and foremost for his show-stopping evening dresses, but he’s putting more energy into his ready-to-wear than ever before. Let’s face it, there are more of us than there are Lady Gagas in the world.Like most of his peers, Saab is getting behind monogram prints in a big way. His is designed with supersized interlocking lowercase E’s, for his first name. It’s a different take on the trend than those of his competitors; more graphic, and, he thinks, maybe a little ’70s-ish. Beyond the new logo, what distinguishes this collection from his recent ready-to-wear outings is its extreme casualness. There are macramé lace sundresses, shirt and shorts sets, and an easy sleeveless shift in the mod A-line shape seen elsewhere this week, though he does touch on the crepe day tailoring that has informed much of his ready-to-wear output up until this point.The spirit of the collection is upbeat. “You want to see life in a more fresh way,” he said, suggesting that he and his customers are coming out of the dark days of COVID. “Color is sunshine.” His palette is definitely vibrant, dominated by shades of coral, lime green, and cyan blue. Prints are a rarity chez Saab, so the lush red and green botanical motif he used on a long dress with a shirred halter neckline and cut-out bodice has a special charm.
2 October 2021
Elie Saab didn’t travel to Paris this season, but he delivered a beautiful bouquet of a couture collection as an offering of hope and sign of his commitment to the métier. “We try to be very positive for the coming days,” said the designer on a call.An eternal optimist, Saab sees the world’s emergence from lockdown as a transition from darkness into the light, and likens this reawakening to blossoming. This plays out literally, as the lineup opens with black looks and gradually lightens, finishing with pale pastels; his theme, of course, is flowers.Flowers are a symbol of femininity. Saab is not the first, and won’t be the last, to make a connection between the delicacy of couture and garden treasures: Christian Dior envisioned his Corolle line of 1947 being worn by “femmes fleurs.” Many of the bouffant gowns in Saab’s collection nod to the golden age of couture instigated by Dior, with skirts petaling out from small, stemlike waists tied neatly with bow belts.The designer included full-on Disney princess versions of this silhouette (as in the opening look in which “petals” are formed by feathers). More modern, and unexpected, are Saab’s subtle deconstructions of this classic look. These he achieved by applying embellishments to the lightest of materials so that they seemed to hover on the fabric, like a butterfly might land on a leaf. In some cases the semitransparency also revealed the inner workings of the dress in the form of tulle panniers.The looks that captured Saab’s theme best are the ones that felt the lightest. Next to tulle, organza, and chiffon, his taffeta looks stiff and formal; two-tone lacks subtlety. Not so two ivory monotone looks with tone-on-tone embellishment: a pantsuit with a decorated jacket and train; and a one-sleeve column gown with a sheer cut-out boasting “floating” embroideries. The refreshingly unstructured look of an asymmetric black lace number with a gathered top anchored by corsages approaches the delicacy of a fresh-cut flower. “I love life,” exclaimed Saab. His collection pulses with it.
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7 July 2021
Despite the travails of the past year, Elie Saab never stopped believing in the power of fashion—“and all the work around [it]”—to evoke a “beautiful spirit.” If only the designer’s positivity were communicated by his models, who remain unsmiling although the sun is out and the flowers are blooming. In any case it would be difficult to outshine the saturated primary colors Saab used generously here on pieces like a yellow caftan dress and flowing cobalt blue evening looks.The designer says he’s always pushing forward in terms of palette and technique. For this resort collection, he called out the use of micro embroidery on peek-a-boo pieces that revealed a glimpse of thigh or torso without employing slits or cutouts. He also emphasized his logo’d accessories, hence the plethora of bags, belts, and whatnot.Saab’s name is synonymous with big-Gglamour and he’s been increasingly trying to translate that into daywear; this effort remains a work in progress, despite the addition of a jogger styled with a baseball cap. Casual is a relative term in Saab World; it’s best translated by a relatively understated and chic look consisting of a metallic knit short-sleeve sweater, with a coordinating striped, pleated skirt light enough to catch a breeze.
14 June 2021
No doubt the past year or so hasn’t been the easiest for Elie Saab. The fashion industry has taken a battering the world over, but the pandemic has been least kind to couture houses. With all events canceled—from red carpet premieres to glitzy fundraisers to fancy weddings—2020 had zero need for a sensational gown of any kind. But that wasn’t all Saab had to contend with. His atelier and also his home were reduced to rubble in August’s Beirut blast, which caused more than 200 deaths and left more than 300,000 people homeless. “Honestly we are in very bad times,” he admitted via a Zoom call. “The country hasn’t passed this difficult moment…it is very, very difficult.” And yet, he said with a smile, “we try to be hopeful; to be positive.” His 400 employees in Lebanon depend on it.It helps that this week things are beginning to open up again in Beirut, after months of lockdown. And there are other glimmers of joy on the horizon too: Michael, Saab’s youngest son, recently announced his engagement, so there is the matter of a wedding to plan later this year and, importantly, a dress to create.But first, fall ’21: Confidence, strength,andallurewere three words Saab used to define the characteristics of his heroine this season. Black came in every which way, from dramatic, all-absorbing velvets and ruffled, transparent tulles to lace and macramé, further toughened up with thigh-high leather boots and elbow-length gloves. A micro-windowpane check was particularly modern worked into a two-piece of culottes and a ’70s-style blazer. Playful polka dots decorated trouser suits and midiskirts and were, Saab said, a way in to easier looks more suited for day. But that was as relaxed as he got, aside perhaps from a pair of chic silk pj’s printed in a geometric Art Deco motif that could go anywhere—from the beach to a party to the office—or nowhere at all, should WFH be your reality.But Elie Saab’s talents extend beyond ready-to-wear and haute couture; lately it is more apt to categorize his brand as ‘lifestyle.’ He recently added Elie Saab Maison, an elegant lineup of furniture, lighting, rugs, and home accessories, to his portfolio, and only a few weeks ago he debuted a 28-piece collection of watches comprising stainless steel and diamonds. He says they’ve been a big success. In the face of adversity, his energy is certainly admirable. “I always want to challenge myself, to do better and to do more,” he said.
“I enjoy working so much; it’s great to advance and go in new directions.” Onward and upward.
6 March 2021
In feathers and beads, tulle and lace, Elie Saab let his imagination take flight for spring. The very existence of this collection is something of a wonder itself. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, artisans had to work in shifts to complete it. On top of that, Saab’s home of Beirut is still dealing with the aftereffects of the terrible explosion there. Anyone else might have been rattled, but the designer seems to be taking things in stride, reminding this reviewer that he started his career in 1982, during the Siege of Beirut.Faced with such upheaval, Saab created an escapist fantasy calledLe Théâtre du Rêve(Theater of the Dream). Models wore marvelously worked pieces with Belle Époque splendor. On top of that, some looks were accessorized with glittering and plumed headdresses that added an aspect of showgirl glamour to the proceedings. Many pieces featured bold, architectural shoulder details. When combined with the volumes and Saab’s new use of feathers, they read as wings. Dresses predominated, but there were pant looks as well, and the thigh-high boots paired with shorter hems could be mistaken for leggings.By limiting his palette to white, mauve, and black, Saab kept the silhouettes and embellishments in focus. The designer said he wanted to create something spectacular and signature, and for the most part he did. Hooded capes, including a pink one with sheer embroidered insets, seemed destined for very grown-up and sophisticated fairy-tale heroines.Speaking about once upon a times, the collection film opens with a small boy who stares at the sky and escapes to the land of imagination. It seems he’s a stand-in for a young Saab. “I tried to remember my childhood,” he explained. “With this virus and all that has happened in Lebanon, I believe we go back to the roots, for the memories.”With the exception of the dreaming-boy conceit, this wasn’t a time-traveling collection but an escapist one, where dreams for the future can be entertained. Ultimately it was about hope through beauty. And while Saab clearly had his customers in mind, he was also thinking of a higher purpose. “I’d like if you can say that what I present is also always for my country and for…all the children, for the younger generation, to give them a place, a dream,” he stated. “I believe when we present something beautiful, it affects our country and our people a lot, allowing them to feel like there are always beautiful things that survive.”
20 February 2021
Elie Saab and his team are delivering profiles in perseverance along with their latest pre-fall collection. Last year, in the midst of the pandemic, the designer lost his home and atelier in the tragic Beirut explosion, yet the brand carries on, and glamour, as always, prevails.In this collection Saab, famed for his embellished evening dresses, focused on day-to-evening wear—after a fashion. Some women might find his 9-to-5 looks appropriate for after dark. Casual, however, has never described the Saab client.The designer chose the 1970s as his inspiration. It was an era, he wrote in an email, in which “I became more sensitive to the beauty around me.”The decade makes its mark here in the form of checked suits, camel capes, and a ruffled, disco-ready jumpsuit. These unexpected pieces stand out and apart from the more expected fancier evening looks, which are more scattershot. Perhaps it’s because they have a narrative that’s related to an era-specific silhouette rather than a fabric treatment or embellishment. We’re all for more of that.
22 January 2021
At the beginning of September, Elie Saab became a grandfather. The birth of baby Sophia after such a tumultuous year in Saab’s native Lebanon, during which the harrowing impact of the pandemic was exacerbated by an explosion in Beirut, coincided with a determination to base his ready-to-wear collection, titled “a new dawn,” on new beginnings. “We want to celebrate life, and quality of life,” he said, speaking over the phone from Beirut.Saab’s atelier and home were destroyed in the August blast in Beirut’s port, an explosion of ammonium nitrate that ripped through the city, killing 200 people and injuring thousands. His early-20th-century home, one of the few remaining examples of traditional architecture left in Beirut after the civil war, was wrecked, its Ottoman-era chandeliers smashed and windows blown out. His atelier was similarly reduced to rubble. His team worked night and day and, remarkably, the haute couture atelier of 200 people was up and running again just 15 days later. It’s emblematic of the Lebanese mindset, he says. “The Lebanese people are always looking forward, we live for tomorrow and plan for everything to be better and more beautiful.”In lieu of a runway show in Paris, where he also has a small atelier, Saab debuted a vaguely unsettling film that drew on elements of ritual and ceremony. Captured in the Faqra mountains, filled with girls in his signature embellished, ethereal gowns, it was made to capture the ritual of dancing and moving together “celebrating life,” and to emphasize the vast surrounding landscape, to “give a sensation of liberty.” He conceived of the collection in a series of color capsules. “There is pink from the bougainvillea, acid green like beautiful leaves, a lot of white, because we are dreaming of peace and serenity, but also blood red, for when you lose someone,” he says. His favorite is the turquoise section comprising a Grecian gown reminiscent of the style Grace Kelly wears inTo Catch a Thief, as well as a series of beaded sheer numbers worn belted at the waist.Asked if the Lebanese predilection for partying has been curtailed by the pandemic, and therefore had an effect on his business (he is the designer of choice for discerning Lebanese brides) he shrugged: “The parties are smaller, but life continues.” His one nod to daywear, other than some colorful tailoring, was a capsule of handbags, including cross-body styles and large totes in jolly hues.
He predicts the future will be about personalization and personality. “Joy and simplicity,” he said, to sum it up.
30 September 2020
If there can be a sartorial antidote for unprecedented and heartrending times, Elie Saab has an idea or, rather, 48—each one intended as a haute couture love letter and message of hope to his hometown of Beirut, in all its beautiful complexity.True to what the designer’s son toldVoguefollowing thecatastrophic blast in August, Saab’s ateliers were up and running in a matter of weeks, ensuring continuity amid crisis.For those who, like this reviewer, are still waiting for a chance to experience “the Paris of the Middle East,” Saab paints it in impressionistic, watercolor hues, “like the subtle smell of jasmine in the spring.” With a palette of pale blues, blush pinks, gentle greens, and muted golds, the designer translated strength into diaphanous veils showered with feathers and crystal droplets, fortitude into a cascade of intricate and organic embroideries, and resilience into a shoulder line rendered sculptural via a whorl of lustrous rose petals.To help convey his message, the designer opted to stage the collection in a sylvan setting and enlisted the award-winning young film director Mounia Akl, who created a mirrored set in the forest of Faqra. As outdoor runways go, this is a rare one that truly delivered, and although less embellished than what we’ve come to expect from Saab, there’s a rich, romantic, and ethereal quality to these looks. They are stronger for it.In his notes, the designer spoke of his bride venturing forth, noting that she “knows not where [the trail] leads, but she is certain that it can only be better.”
2 October 2020
For the past few days, Paris has been cold and gray, with intermittent bouts of rain. And with reports of the coronavirus continuing to spread globally and Parisians wary of its possible arrival here, every sniffle is viewed with suspicion, every cough greeted with horror. There is not a lot of joie de vivre.So when Elie Saab opened his fall show at the Palais de Tokyo with a series of muted black-and-white looks, some including the return of the pussy bow, one had to wonder whether the Lebanese designer was deliberately reflecting the current mood, replacing his usual irrepressible takes on luxurious dressing with something more somber. But as quickly became clear, there is nothing somber about an Elie Saab show.The black-and-white theme continued—interrupted briefly by a belted coat in bright scarlet—but the looks became more elaborate, with sumptuous gold detailing making one black dress coat shimmer as it passed by. (It was paired with over-the-knee boots in the same pattern.) More gold detailing accented a black velvet dress slit all the way to the upper thigh and a dramatically cut pantsuit that gave a glimpse of a lacy see-through blouse.Color began to assert itself as the show progressed. Short, flouncy dresses in emerald green and deep purple were paired with long trains, and scarlet reappeared in the form of a striking high-neck translucent gown that was slightly reminiscent of the vintage Saab dress that Jane Fonda wore to this year’s Oscars.And the pussy bow returned—on a girlish black-and-white knee-length dress, on a black blouse paired with a bubble-like polka-dotted dress, and on another polka-dotted dress with a white frilly bib.Afterward, Saab said he was influenced by Andalusia, a look he debuted at his pre-fall collection in January and continued to explore here, with ruffles and lace and sweeping tulle skirts that very much projected the gorgeous fantasy of the Elie Saab world.But just as the show ended and the crowd exited onto the street, it started to rain again. Back to reality.
29 February 2020
Elie Saab is no minimalist; you won’t find practical daywear options in his Couture collections. Today’s show was an unabashed ode to a world of opulence that lives in dreams and fantasies—or on red carpets.The lengthy press notes provided a sort of narrative that referenced Mexico and its visual culture, particularly in the embroidered motifs lavished on almost every evening dress. The rather convoluted story went that a woman receives a letter summoning her to Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City; suspended between dream and reality, she wanders about the place, obviously clad in the magnificent couture concoctions in which, quoting the notes, “the regal past of both Europe and imperial Mexico are intertwined.”Not being particularly acquainted with Mexican heraldry, I had no basis for an opinion about the more or less faithful rendition the designer gave of said imperial imagery. But that wasn’t the point. What stood out was the golden shimmer the collection seemed to be bathed in. The dresses looked as if immersed in an uninterrupted stream of curlicued embroideries, incrustations of florals and pearls, and intarsia-ed baroque swirls. With embellishments of an imperial magnitude, shapes seemed not to differ much from one another, overwhelmed by ruffles, swirls of rosettes, and bows. Silhouettes had fitted bodices and dramatic Elizabethan leg-of-mutton sleeves with trains and long capes adding to the majestic effect.Providing respite from such opulent visual overload, a series of beautifully sculpted silk duchesse gowns in jewel tones of chartreuse, coral, and turquoise had the right mix of glamour and theatrical presence. They will surely be popular with the many clients in Saab’s front row.
22 January 2020
For pre-fall, Elie Saab is in an Andalusian frame of mind, which means tiers of ruffles and lace, lashings of fringe, and lots of 3D embroidery. In Saab’s world, “dressing” always means “way up,” although the occasional pantsuit surprised for its sheer lack of embellishment, save the sweeping sleeves.Some evening gowns were likewise minimalist—a one-sleeved black dress comes to mind—but on the opposite end of the spectrum, the designer also delivered a handful of compelling numbers with lush-colored floral embroidery either on tulle set against black lace or veiled by a tulle overskirt. Washed-out florals on a fully sequined skirt with a gunmetal ground looked pretty too.Saab’s base—among them many red carpet regulars—will delight in ultra-feminine dresses and black sequined jackets all tied up with a bow. The designer is a pro at fairy-tale dressing, but what appeared most modern was a jumpsuit that looked like a dress, and—especially—a thematic take on the LBD, with a flared cut, mock neck, andguipurebib and sleeves. It was embellished, yet comparatively restrained. These days, there’s no need to get any more complicated than that.
3 February 2020
These are culturally sensitive times, and those sensitivities are culturally relative. This afternoon, Elie Saab put out a typically va-va-voom collection that his press release described as “a reflection on the diversity than animates the great savannas of Africa.” As a white English male, I’ve got so much privilege I have to check in excess at the gate when approaching such issues as a Lebanese designer dedicating a collection to a very broad-brush interpretation of the African continent. Is “expedition chic” or “safari chic” featuring “African bead necklaces and bracelets” okay today? The answer depends on where you come from.What can be reported rather than rhetoricized is that Saab’s sure hand when it comes to delivering powerful evening gowns in jersey, cady, taffeta, and lace remained steady this afternoon. There were strong, (relatively) simple dresses cut in tulle strafed with long lines of sequins and cute daisy brocade daywear worn by a (relatively) diverse casting. There were also epauletted and billows-pocketed swooshy daywear looks in desert tones, blown up abstracted Dutch prints, and adapted Nefertiti-style headpieces. Even when soundtracked by Nina Simone’s wonderful “Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter,” in the sensitive times mentioned at the top, it was hard to entirely succumb to the sometimes beautiful collection Saab presented this afternoon.
28 September 2019
As guests were taking their seats, ambient music gave some indication that Elie Saab had looked to China, or Asia more broadly, for inspiration. This was confirmed from the first look, with gowns moving through harmonies of construction and craftsmanship that conjured empresses and women of high rank displaying their beauty and influence.Richly jewel-toned in velvet and satin, or else ethereally light in satin or tulle, the silhouettes were all manner of ceremonial, romantic, and regal. There were floor-sweeping trains and thigh-high slits; peaked shoulders and one-shoulders; kimono sleeves and cape sleeves; enveloping robes and stricter columns. The embroideries were exceedingly lavish, suggesting auspicious flora and fauna but more abstract than figurative, as though rendered in movement, as well as tracery patterns that would be found on royal garments. There were also a number of dresses whose surfaces displayed not a single sequin or bead; most certainly, these will be well received for existing outside the theme.In the collection notes, Saab is quoted as saying, “I was drawn to East Asia’s rich culture, and the more I let my mind dive into it, the more I explored imperial volumes within the collection, using signature touches that remain true to the Maison.” Waist emphasis qualifies as one of those signature touches: This season, more often than not, the dresses were enhanced with belts comprised of contoured golden discs.Meanwhile, the soundtrack largely toggled between Thom Yorke and Ryuichi Sakamoto, underscoring the contemporary East-West trope that, for whatever reason, proves endlessly alluring in fashion and beyond. Apart from hair and makeup that played up a more caricatured look, this sumptuously executed collection treated the traditional elements with artistic respect. But it’s interesting to consider that on the same day that Christine Lagarde was named the first woman to lead the European Central Bank, these dresses seem to elevate women within a fantasized realm.
3 July 2019
With its gilded woodwork and view of the Eiffel Tower, the Elie Saab showroom is the quintessential setting for the collections presented within. But seeing these latest Resort looks photographed on a rocky landing overlooking the Mediterranean is likely giving you some serious wanderlust, no? The season’s “Coastal Crossroads” theme had many potential inspiration entry points, and a few of these were explored splendidly. The floral-collage print, apparently nodding to ancient Carthage, made the strongest impact when given maximum surface area, the jet-set caftan strongest of all. And even though it will be months before the collection arrives in stores, many of the showpieces in pigments extracted from Ottoman tiles might already be heading to destinations near and far.Nonetheless, this remained a rather rarefied crossroads, where taffeta balloon sleeves added even more drama to embroidered gowns and, whether intentional or not, incrustations of lace intersected at crossroads across the body. In this context, Bermuda-style shorts were considered a novelty, as was the tuxedo look from a grouping in metallic green and black jacquard; ideally, the collection would make further inroads here. Comparatively wearable day-to-night dresses in fluid crepe were not specific to the theme; in this way, they almost qualified as basic. As for the saffron-hued gown outlined at the décolleté with metal chain link, it was stunning without any trace of opulence.
21 June 2019
Adroitly mixed with a seasonal twist, this was a floor-filling compilation of crowd-pleasing elevated womenswear standards masterminded by Elie Saab to leave his audience wanting more, more, more.“Love Action” by the Human League kicked in irresistibly as Saab opened with a set of primary-colored fitted jersey dresses and pantsuits, most featuring high collars, whose ratio of ruffle-to-torso was highly considered in its wearable restraint—especially in this ruffle-heavy season. The high-hat upped on the remix just as an oversize bomber, blouse, and skirt in silk came out. Their black, green, rust, and blue hand-and-heart-and-eye print would provide much of the color story for the collection ahead. Two velvet tuxedos and some long, cloaked print dresses—one or two with enormously inflated shoulders—presaged a diversion into that print relief etched in sequins on lace-patched, fitted, multi-length dresses and skirts, sometimes garnished with marabou chubbies.As we oozed into “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, a lovable sequined emerald tuxedo with a matching pleated cape stalked into the photographers’ area, followed by a nearly 10-look sequence of black—lace, lace, lace. The tempo around us picked up as those outfits began to be delineated by lines of gold and silver studs. These disrupted into allover patternings of embellishment on layered black sheer organza just as we rewound to the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” The series of evening dresses that followed was way, way beyond waitress-in-a-cocktail-bar status. Is it love that you’re after, wondered Rose Rose at the finale, or just a good time? Both were available at Elie Saab this afternoon.
2 March 2019
“I wanted to celebrate the magic of femininity,” said Elie Saab backstage before the show. The usually press-shy designer was putting the final touches on the breathtaking wedding dress in crystal-encrusted tulle that would close the show, a concoction of such sumptuous lightness, it looked like a dream. “Oui, c’est le rêve!” he enthused. “It’s a dream of luminous mermaids emerging from the waves and promenading along the sea.” The collection indeed had a liquid quality, with sinuous silhouettes dripping in silvery ocean-blue sequins. “I wanted to express the brilliance and the glamour of women; I try to enhance their charm with my creations: I look at femininity with my utmost respect.”Beirut is the center of Lebanese couture culture and it’s where Saab keeps his ateliers, where all his collections are hand-embroidered and hand-painted. “I bring to French haute couture my Mediterranean sensibility, a vision of a woman almost regal in her demeanor,” he said when asked about his approach. He definitely gives the couture narrative a touch of flamboyance. In this collection, extravagance and lightness made a winning combination.Expanding on the sea life theme, ruffles rippled around figure-hugging, asymmetrically draped evening dresses in deep-blue silk crêpe, and underwater gardens blossomed on delicate confections of sheer pleated tulle, organza, and iridescent taffeta. Corals were finely embroidered in tiny silver sequins on wispy ballgowns, giving them a translucent shimmer. Wearing one of these fantastic creations would transform any woman into a million-dollar mermaid. In the end, that dreamy, fantastical dimension is what true haute couture should be about.
23 January 2019
Being over- or underdressed is usually situation-specific, but when surrounded by Elie Saab creations, you have the distinct feeling of the latter. And this isn’t just owing to the eveningwear in all its transparent tulle and beaded splendor. Even the new Pre-Fall looks destined for day—a dress with a deep triangle cut-out, a clingy knit frock spliced with lace, a sophisticated shawl-collar coat—present a level of ultra-feminine polish that most of us reserve for special occasions. Mind you, the designer knows his clients and proposes these pieces aware that there are women from around the world who have reason to wear them.As with any Saab collection, silhouettes were attractive and idealized, accentuating narrow waists and long legs. Dresses that skimmed the body were fluid rather than constricting, while coats were given dramatic volume. Among the recurring themes was a chain motif rendered several ways: in shimmering embroidery; as actual chain, very fine and applied to highlight the body; and as an allover print. While some will appreciate its retro-chic quality, the more interesting motif featured a random arrangement of dark brushstrokes against a Champagne-hued mikado background. As a dress or a coordinated look, it would make a striking impression at a fundraiser or wedding alike. A gold buckle shaped as a dragon’s head was impossible to miss as a belt or at the shoulders of a jumpsuit. It was nearly the size of a door knocker. But with hardware like that, you’d be fully dressed.
17 January 2019
Thinking about it, this has been among the least floral Spring/Summer seasons in recent memory. Into that breach this afternoon stepped Elie Saab with a collection that featured more blooms than a nursery. Embroidered on lace, laser-cut on leather, printed on silks, collaged in sequin, and shadowed on a hologram-effect treated diaphanous organza, Saab heaped his signature silhouettes with the enduringly irresistible botanical expressions of colorful fertility. There were some pieces in which the woman wearing the Saab was not obliged to compete with the florals: long gowns in vertically striped pleated sequin with scarab silhouettes on the chest, single-color dramatically cut gowns in more sequin, perhaps three black or white day suits, and a suite of rib-lined leopard-pattern pieces. Many looks were accessorized with two box bags in studded black leather slung by black leather straps across the shoulder, and gold heavy-link chain necklaces into which were inset gleaming jewellike crystals. His gowns set in panels of floral fabric that were delineated by brass-color rivets were a particularly convincing expression of a romantically inclined floral-adoring woman of means who will wear as many damned flowers as she pleases, thank you, and she’ll feel both strong and self-assured while doing so. Saab is a hardy perennial.
29 September 2018
In an haute couture season where the client is queen, one would be hard-pressed to find a more relevant collection than that of Elie Saab, shown today in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs. For Saab, his women always come first, above any artistic foaminess or the inevitable tides of fashion that sometimes allow prettiness and glamour to wash away. And his women come to him—to his ateliers in Beirut, London, and Paris—because they enjoy the confidence that comes with the exquisite, well-placed, and shrewdly scaled embroideries; a consistently flattering palette of neutrals and gem tones; and the technical mastery to allow super-high slits sans risk of compromised bits. Royals, red carpet stars, and women whose lives are in their own way that helplessly glamorous love Saab for his sense of breathless beaded beauty; case in point,Game of Thrones’s Rose Leslie who just last week married her dashing costar in Saab . . . and didn’t she look lovely?This season, Saab sought design inspiration from the luminescent, whimsically irregular, and rigorously aspirational masterworks of Gaudí. This added a chic verticality to the embroideries, whether on a halter-neck ball gown or on an ornate, vaguely matador-esque tuxedo jacket. There is a shawl-collared brocade coat, cut like a slim bathrobe, which is encrusted with gold and colored beads in Gaudí-ish formations, and paired with a matching mini sheath. The ensemble nods to rock ’n’ roll and royalty, and could cut a swath in either world. And there are a series of evening dresses, mostly in rich gem tones (emerald, amethyst, garnet), but also in a gray-and-white Gaudí-like shadow print, for which sculptural ruffles take the place of any other form of ornamentation. The best of these are in silk chiffon—flattering, fluttery, unapologetically feminine.
4 July 2018
From a sun-drenched, gilded showroom, it didn’t take much effort to imagine the Elie Saab Resort looks transported en masse—this was a large collection—to a seaside suite in St.-Tropez. The eye paused at ruffled dresses in black or white broderie anglaise, billowing chiffon and lace T-shirt gowns printed with giant poppies, micro-sequin bombers over-embroidered with flowers, a gauzy gingham skirt, and a fringed suede jacket. All that elegance, shimmer, and transparency were exactly what you would expect from Saab transferring his women off the red carpet and into some luxury setting.Indeed, as much as the overarching French Riviera–meets–1970s starlet theme gave permission to go a little retro redux—think an A-line dress covered in plastic daisy embellishment, silk headscarves, and flared pantsuits—this haute boho vibe was just another way to signal posh trappings. Relaxed style is more relative than you might think; in Elie Saab terms, thigh-high boots, floor-sweeping tulle, and metallic sequin tunics all qualify as components of a versatile wardrobe. Here the mind paused, wondering whether the majority of these flower-power gowns and rainbow sequin–striped cocktail dresses will be bought for a single event and perhaps never worn again—heaven forbid wardrobe repetition. Accordingly, the collection successfully delivered enough options to get through a season of social obligations: garden parties, opera opening nights, weddings, work dinners, and so forth. On the flip side, no one would dispute the tailored jacket designed with slits for shoulder-cape functionality as a good investment piece.And what to make of the denim grouping? “A first for the Maison,” as noted in the press text, the crisp dark jeans, jacket, and jumpsuit do not imply some new entry-level strategy. Rather, they now exist so that women can dedicate even more closet space to Elie Saab. Compared with the rest of the collection, the pieces were pleasingly basic, as though the brand realizes that its dressy reputation could benefit from clothes that can actually be worn over and over again. Jet-setters need jeans, too.
18 June 2018
Elie Saab knows opulence. An expert in lace and embellishments, he’s made a career of delivering fashion fantasies. Clients don’t just wear one of his gowns; they get caught up in the glitz. Every season, his fairy tale–worthy dresses and couture details give brides their moment. For Spring 2019, he drew inspiration from Vienna’s balls, a tradition in Austrian high society, and took over the penthouse at the Plaza to present a lineup of classic gowns fit for grand occasions.With nipped waists and voluminous skirts, the gowns skewed princess-y—think: Kate Middleton or Grace Kelly. But with plenty of lacework, beading, and intricate sequins, Saab’s attention to detail enlivened silhouettes that have become familiar. White dresses are always pretty, but it takes skill to make them distinctive. From the delicate seams on a pristine satin dress to the 3-D flowers cascading down a bodice into layers of sweeping tulle, Saab gave each number a dynamic element. It may have been as simple as crisscrossing ribbons at a neckline or as ornate as a yards-long lacy train, but each flourish elevated the traditional into something extraordinary. For the woman who prefers her fashion to be daring and her balls to be masquerades, there was a mermaid gown with a matching sequined cape.
18 April 2018
The soundtrack at the start of this Elie Saab show was striking. First, “Come As You Are” by Nirvana—a cello cover. Then, the full uncovered glory of “Creep” by Radiohead—a song that nicely summates the mood as Paris Fashion Week approaches its end. What was up? Grunge Elie?Thankfully for the massed retinue of clients and Saab aficionados—the most utterly un-grunge crowd you can possibly imagine—this was most definitely not the case. Yes, it was a dark collection shown in a dark room, but Saab’s lace, fringing, fur, guipure, ruffles, and mousselines swirled in a carefully assembled cloud of wholesome glamor through the secondary cloud of dry ice on his runway. Saab added his own take on the monogramania sparked by Gucci and Fendi by building his triple-split-S logo into a monogram of his own on dresses and pussy-bow blouses. This was the chief decorative counterpoint to a heavily used black-background floral that ran through a collection entitled Bouquets d’Hiver.Asides included a black leather jacket, a silk skirt decorated with dyed fur flowers, a big-shouldered knit, two gold mesh dresses, a black velvet dress, and a black sequined tuxedo jacket garlanded with crystal bows and flourishes. There were many lace- and fringing-strafed evening gowns in black with marabou shivers at the shoulder, arm, and wrist. Suddenly, Saab’s use of “Creep”—whose lyrics include, “You float like a feather through a beautiful world”—didn’t seem so surprising.
4 March 2018
The fairy-tale aspect of haute couture can often lead to “Once upon a time . . .” collections, and such was the case at Elie Saab, where a glitzy throwback to Paris in the 1920s was reimagined with contemporary workmanship. Show notes were packaged as a large-format program, with images of Josephine Baker, Mistinguett, and Kiki de Montparnasse accompanying a breathless text on the creativity that defined the period, and how today’s gowns were evocations of an “artistic paradise” where people partied day and night—hence the show’s title, Paris est une Fête.And party dresses they were. In a largely subdued palette of champagne, silvery blue, and black with just a hint of rose, each look was beaded, bejeweled, feathered, and wrapped in a bow to varying degrees. Application aside, much effort had gone into the Art Deco arrangements that made up embroideries; as each dress passed, you could almost envision the wallpaper, furniture design, architecture, or vintage fabrics that inspired them. It was also interesting to consider the necklines—many scooping below the sternum—in the context of the collection’s muses. Josephine Baker, after all, famously danced topless at the Folies Bergère and Kiki de Montparnasse was known for posing nude. Here, more often than not, the dresses were sheer and in the necessary parts deliberately decorated; yet in comparative terms, they weren’t all that risqué.The sparkling cloches, despite being literal, actually gave the looks an all-over splendor that could prove a striking point of differentiation at any event requiring such a fancy dress code. Indeed, the mind tries to envision where these women might actually be going—the red carpet notwithstanding. But surely a few will end up there; the question is, which and worn by whom? Unsolicited advice to any potential wearer: Opt for a design that really does show off the Art Deco, play up the decadence with the metallic silver, and skip the bow.
24 January 2018
Elie Saab looked to the American frontier for his Pre-Fall starting point. It’s a popular spot. Maria Grazia Chiuri explored similar territory for Dior’s Resort collection last May. That’s the challenge of destination collections, which is how Saab has been approaching his ready-to-wear recently: It’s difficult to stumble upon a place that feels genuinely new. That said, this trip proved fruitful at times. A knitted black poncho with deep fringe was striking, as was the floor-length black lace cape worn over sequined pants and a Western button-down. You wouldn’t have seen either of those pieces in a Saab collection of several years ago; the expansion of his ready-to-wear business has pushed him out of his red carpet, gown-focused comfort zone, and that’s not a bad thing.Amidst the profusion of fringe, studs, and satin-that-looked-like-leather Western appliqués was a new crest of interlockingEs andSs. Brand exercises of this sort are part and parcel of a company in growth mode, and everybody’s gotta have a logo these days (see the Pre-Fall lineups of Givenchy, Missoni, and Altuzarra, for starters). As far as they go, this one was subtle, even in gold leaf on a black sweatshirt. The motif also appeared on the back pocket of jeans, on clutches, and on the bodice buttons of the most charming dress in the lineup. Ankle length, with long sleeves, and a delicate print, it hit the sweet spot between his signature event dresses and his new Western fare—and it looked right.
6 December 2017
For Fall 2018, Elie Saab revisited old-school silhouettes with a few modern twists. The edited collection of 14 gowns still possessed his signature couture craftsmanship, seen best in the intricately embellished dresses, veils, and metallic threads for subtle shimmer. The setting for the feminine yet strong offering was Saab’s Madison Avenue boutique, where the marble and gilded decor complemented his designs.An arabesque motif was woven throughout, most notably on a regal gown (read: Kate Middleton doesDynasty) with a silver beaded collar floating above the décolletage. Another shimmering V-neck column was more modest yet still alluring, and even the demure options, like a balletic, tea-length dress in lace, chiffon, organza, and tulle, had a quiet splendor.Saab also carried over a popular silhouette from last season: the cape. This time, it came with hand-embellishments and a dramatic,Handmaid’s Tale–esque hood.
9 October 2017
We were under a series of canopies imprinted with a, well, canopy of jungle foliage. When the lights went down, they beamed a soft leafy camouflage onto the runway. It was certainly humid and close and richly perfumed—the latter thanks to the high proportion of carefully turned out clients who attended—in this darkened corner of the Grand Palais. The notes informed us this was an Amazon collection.Really, though, this expedition from Elie Saab was more “early investor in Amazon, the company” than denizen of Amazon, the river-defined jungle region. Sure, there was python print aplenty, earrings of golden leaves and colored arrowheads, and some long princess dresses edged with the same nicely embroidered foliage relief that was on our invitations. Some other long silk pieces, including a rather epic kaftan, were printed with an attractive long-frond pattern, and some of the sheer white or black dresses were etched with different tropical botanicals.Cutting across these were suites of boldly colored daywear and eveningwear: nicely cut jackets, slouchy field jackets, fringed skirts, more embroidered evening dresses (sometimes accessorized with the latest example of the this-season massive straw hat). Rather tellingly, the show ended with an efficiently sleek backless and sleeveless jumpsuit with long fringing details at its neckline. Saab used his theme only to accent this collection rather than to fully define it, which was no bad thing.
30 September 2017
Couture week has seen an unusual amount of daywear, even daywear of the unadorned sort at Dior. Daywear is not what you go to Elie Saab’s haute couture show for. True to form, the Lebanese designer sent out a pageant of dresses—enough for a whole season of galas, weddings, and other lavish occasions. Pageantry wasn’t far from Saab’s mind; his show notes imagined a fictional world of “fallen kings, defeated by a fearless and heroic sisterhood . . . bright and brave warrior queens they were, are, and forever will be.” PictureGame of Throneswhen Sansa Stark, her auburn hair held in place by a gleaming bandeau headband, vanquishes them all in the end. I know I’m rooting for her, and from the looks of it, so might Saab be.With one exception—an early look that combined trousers, jacket, and a train—Saab’s warrior queens wore floor-sweeping gowns, many accompanied by matching capes. These are not clothes for battle, unless it’s quarry of a romantic kind we’re talking about. There were regal velvets and silks, elaborately embroidered with gold thread, and softer, younger-seeming mousselines and tulles that offered glimpses of flesh underneath. Some of the beadwork suggested heraldry. Were those eagle’s wings or angel’s picked out in sequins on the sheer bodice of a white gown? The bride wore palest blush pink burnished with gold sequins and a hooded veil that required two attendants in matching beaded pale blush pink dresses of their own.Saab’s is a nostalgic view of female power dating to medieval times, but that could be why it remains seductive—on the runway and in the culture. Who can resist the fairy tale? A quick scan of Instagram reveals countless Sansa Stark fan pages. Winter is coming, ladies—get your dresses!
5 July 2017
The sea was Elie Saab’s starting point for Resort. It’s a tried-and-true theme for this in-between season, so named because it once served well-off shoppers who had holiday-time cruises and beach vacations to buy for. Saab, of course, is primarily an eveningwear designer, so there weren’t the bikinis and caftans that you might expect elsewhere. Instead, he applied his seaside motifs to his signature tulle gowns; multicolor encrustations decorate the bodice of a V-neck style and another with a sheer capelet and cold shoulders. Coral and sea-life embroideries also decorated a terrific little tulle bomber that captured the sporty vibes he’s emphasized on his ready-to-wear runway in recent seasons.For the most part, though, he sidelined the more casual attitude he’s lately embraced in favor of full-on glamour. The vivid tie-dye motif on a caftan gown evoked birds of paradise, and a deep green palm-leaf print on evening suiting called to mind J.Lo in that unforgettable cut-down-to-there Versace. Saab made a big play for accessories this season, too—not just mirrored sunglasses, shoulder-duster earrings, bangles by the wristful, and minaudieres, but crystal-studded stockings, too. It’s a good bet that when his Hollywood loyalists slip into his glittery one-shoulder gowns with the hip-high slits, they’ll hit the red carpet bare-legged.
7 June 2017
For his third bridal collection,Elie Saabstayed true to his signatures of opulence, grandeur, and femininity. The location for his presentation—Elizabeth Taylor’s former townhouse in midtown Manhattan—was the ideal setting for the 13-piece, heavily embellished collection, which sat next to glittering jewelry and sparkling shoes.The lineup took its cues from Japanese cherry blossoms, which came through in floral motifs and Saab’s use of blush for the first time. A sheath dress got a dose of his signature red carpet glamour with a detachable skirt, which brides can remove after the ceremony for greater ease of movement. Saab carried that idea of comfort and versatility over to a long-sleeved jumpsuit, which took a simpler approach to glitz with tonal crystal embellishments.The designer also reworked traditional capes and veils in a gossamer-thin hybrid material, which didn’t overpower his body-conscious gowns. But it was a business in the front, party in the back evening dress that stole the show with its illusion bodice dotted with pearls and crystals that cascaded into a tulle ball skirt. The crystals extended around the back, too, which brides will appreciate for their walk down the aisle.Also noteworthy: For the first time, Saab is bringing his haute gowns (worn by the likes of Brie Larson, Céline Dion, and Jennifer Lopez) to a wider audience. The new collection starts at $7,000.
21 April 2017
Next week, Elie Saab opens a New York store on 70th and Madison. Last week, he contributed to what many thought would be the moment of the night—at least right up until the last moment—at the Oscars, thanks to Janelle Monáe’s awesome dress decision. Plus, he dressed Meryl, too.Sandwiched between these events came a show relocated to the Grand Palais from a tent in the Tuileries, with a vastly pared-back capacity. After several seasons in which the designer has accented his signature after-dark arsenal of eveningwear with hints of something street-ier and sportier, this was an exercise in Total Saab: “dark, romantic stuff,” as he put it.The collection was inspired by Giselle and did indeed contain many looks highly suitable for dancing and entrancing errant males to their doubtlessly richly deserved demise. Layers of tulle and ruffle were heaped to whirl dervish-ly around their wearers as they walked. Marabou danced down necklines. Lily-etched lace bled into lily-embroidered velvets. A one-armed opera cloak swooshed above a lily-print chiffon skirt with velvet detail on the bodice. Full tulle skirts patterned with polka dots were worn below bikers etched in gold-studded lily silhouettes. There were some non-dresses here, including a fitted black pant-and-jacket, whose outlines were traced by stitches of thick silk ribbon, but they were asides rather than points of focus.“I wanted something rich,” said Saab. “Maybe it’s less commercial than before and more dramatic.” Hmm. This observer suspects that Saab’s darker flourish will, on the contrary, prove dramatically powerful on a commercial level—because who wouldn’t want to dress like a supernaturally captivating romantic heroine?
4 March 2017
Basically, this is what you never really want to deal with at an haute couture show: being sharply elbowed in the head (me) or heavily stood on (my seat neighbor) while a wall of photographers goes crazy trying to shoot whomever is seated opposite, only to find that when said photographers step away they’ve been snapping no one remotely well-known. Maybe it’s churlish to bring it up—it’s an occupational hazard, after all—and if the object of their desire had been Beyoncé, Meryl Streep, or Cecile Richards (I know, totally unlikely on the last count, but a man can always dream), then it might have been excusable. Anyway, it’s not strictly Elie Saab’s fault, but it kind of detracts from the perception of what should be the typical couture experience; you know: rarefied, elegant, discreet.It is a bit of a shame, really, because in every other respect, Saab absolutely offers the typical haute couture experience. His is a show with a guest list heavy on international clients, dressed to the nines (and I don’t mean the amount of zeroes attached to the cost of the jewelry they’re wearing, or maybe I do) and who are expressly present to see what the Lebanese designer has to offer to further gild their lives. Perhaps more crucially, it’s one of the couture shows that is strictly concerned with creating evening clothes that, while looking good on the sylph-like figures of Roos Abels, Lineisy Montero, Kiki Willems, et al., can also work on the myriad silhouettes of the women who order from him.It’s why he thinks about the importance of sleeves fully integrated into the total design of any given look. There is artfully and strategically placed beading designed to emphasize and de-emphasize different areas of the body. And the preponderance of trailing caped backs and skirts cut to flow over narrow pants, both much in evidence this season, can be deployed to flatter (and disguise, which is, I guess, the same thing) the figure. Given the amount of shimmer here (as on other couture runways this week), it appears as if the Oscar figurine won’t be the only thing that shines at this year’s Academy Awards. Oh, and one other thing. Attendees, take note: If you’re looking for something to shield your eyes from the glaring L.A. sunshine while waiting to enter the ceremony, then Saab has a solution—jewel-encrusted shades, which matched the beading on the dresses. Anyone else who has been nurturing that idea, then apologies; Saab has you beat.
25 January 2017
A lot of ’80s. A little Victoriana. Elie Saab didn’t used to be a designer who paid attention to trends, but for Pre-Fall he landed on two of the biggest ones going. The first look in the slideshow—with its Madonna-in-her-early-years accessories and its leg–of–mutton sleeves—encapsulates the collection’s full-tilt exuberance. Saab also embraced hearts. They turned up as studding outlining the lace insets on cocktail dresses and as lace insets themselves on other numbers. On brass belt buckles, too. This was the designer at his most maximal, a direction he likewise embraced on his Spring runway in Paris, only then it was with 1970s vibes. Here, even the tracksuits came in silk velvet with tulle and lace striping. Another pair of track pants was cut entirely from lace.What of the bread-and-butter special-occasion dresses he built his business on? They were similarly extravagantly detailed: a narrow belted column in allover turquoise beaded lace with those exaggerated Victorian shoulders, a tulle T-shirt gown sequined in a garden-trellis motif and accented with more sequined flowers. Amidst the lavishings of embroideries, a V-neck gown with vertical stripes rendered in what looked like a dip-dyed technique had a quieter, softer appeal. It was an outlier in a collection that was otherwise devoted to glam.
7 December 2016
SinceElie Saablaunched its bridal range last season, a salon within the Paris flagship has been dedicated to the wedding dresses. With its haute couture-like aura, the sleek and tasteful suite feels far more elevated than the usual shopping experience and will make any bride-to-be feel like a VIP. But if appointments in Paris are not an option, the dresses will feel just as true to the sumptuous Saab spirit in any other retail setting. The tight collection of 10 styles will speak to several personality types, from the princess bride seeking the sweetheart bodice with embroidered flowers that tumble down an ethereal tulle skirt to the uptown modernist who will gravitate towards the delicately pleated mousseline halter gown with strong waist emphasis and a detachable cape.Indeed, Saab has interpreted the I-do-to-dance-floor, convertible trend in a number of ways, but mainly by showing overskirts like updated panniers that can be unbelted to reveal the type of body contoured number his muses might wear on the red carpet (see also: the winterized sheepskin cocoon cape with paper snowflake-style cut-outs, or the mink bolero with an insert of lace and floral appliqués). Otherwise, the guipure gown that appears traditional and covered-up from the front only to,voilá, reveal expanses of nude tulle down the back certainly expresses two versions of romantic in one.
26 October 2016
“It’s about dancing—the disco, the seventies! I lived through those years and remember my parents then. I think I took a lot from that decade through them,”Elie Saabsaid, as he loosely twined a thick golden ribbon around Mayowa Nicholas’s neck backstage. Saab turned 15 in 1979. And in this collection he did, indeed, process many of the tropes of that decade—and then Saab-ified them, hard.There was a riot of stars, of the Pinball Wizard-meets-Evel Knievel variety. (Incidentally, star-patterned pieces sell very well in Asian markets.) They appeared on multicolored fit-and-flare minidresses, which were worn under swoosh cloak jackets; as lace inserts on multi-ruffled black silk minidresses; or inlaid against stripes in paillette-heavy, gridded evening gowns. One can easily imagine Bianca Jagger cutting a rug in one such gown inside Studio 54.Deeply Halston-esque silk gowns in rainbow stripes or primary colors made a few cameos. There were also pleated skirts and necklines that plunged as low as Nixon’s post-Watergate approval ratings. The ’80s leg-of-mutton box was dutifully ticked. One model struggled to reconcile a bell-bottom with heels that must have been at least four inches high. Saab contemporized his output a little by teaming some full-tilt sequined gowns with matching sequined baseball caps—and some starry ones too. And the black bomber jackets with split arms and golden ringlet details were sleeklypratique.This was as glitzy, fun, and light as a night spent busting boozy moves to the tunes from way back when. There were perhaps 600 or so clients in the audience—many of them dressed in full Saab eveningwear at 3 p.m. on a Saturday in the Tuileries. They were absolutely loving the dry ice, the glittered runway, and Gigi and Karlie and company strutting to “Relight My Fire.” Saab is staying alive extremely effectively.
1 October 2016
With a Madison Avenue store in the works for 2017,Elie Saabhad a ready-made theme for his new couture collection: New York, New York. Sirens and horns blared on the sound system, and Saab printed a press book with quotes about the city from famous locals and visitors. It’s been a good week for the Big Apple; Gilles Mendel riffed on his adopted hometown in his first-ever couture show yesterday. Chez Saab, lit skyscraper windows were a decorative motif on the first few gowns, but beyond that the direct references to NYC were fairly few and far between. It certainly seemed to energize him, though.The knock on Saab has been he’s got a look and he sticks to it, with one collection blending into the next. Over the past couple of ready-to-wear seasons he has made an effort to inject youthfulness into his aesthetic. Today, for the first time, he showed a handful of mommy-and-me dresses, the little girls’ frocks every bit as lavishly detailed as the women’s. There’s no quicker way to the fashion crowd’s heart than putting kids on the runway, but youthfulness wasn’t the point here.This was an exceptional Elie Saab collection because of how expressive it was. Birds flocked on the skirt of a gown with a black velvet bodice; hearts appeared as prints and as crystal embroideries. And there were all manner of flowers—picked out in yellow, light blue, bordeaux, and black beads on tulle; embroidered in 3-D on Chantilly lace; and appliquéd in watercolor silk on another graceful gown. That hardly sounds like a novelty at couture, where flowers are many designers’ stock in trade, but Saab has always preferred a monochromatic look, most often with shimmery tone-on-tone embroidery. His embrace of change augurs well for his Upper East Side store, and for the brand in general.
6 July 2016
Once upon a time, an Elie Saab tracksuit would have been unexpected, to say the least. But the Lebanese designer has been endeavoring to expand his repertoire of late, with an eye to new flagships opening in London and New York within a year. So, yes, there was a tracksuit in his latest Resort lineup, but Saab hasn’t necessarily forsaken his dressmaker roots. It was a tracksuit in lace. If the merits of such a thing are debatable, there were other brand extensions that came out quite well. Among them was a wine-color stretchy knit dress with graphic insets of lace and a zip-up front, and a dressy T-shirt emblazoned with a Lurex-shot bloom.The use of pattern and print is one key way Saab is stretching. He still loves his solid colors for high evening dresses, and there was no shortage of them in this large collection, but the noteworthy pieces had a streamlined, almost minimalist cut about them and were covered in lush, painterly flower prints. Densely embroidered party dresses also looked new. Saab has built his career on embroideries, it’s true, but typically they’re of the tone-on-tone shine and shimmer variety. Rarely, if ever, has he been so exuberant with his use of colorful beads. The eveningwear’s Pop sensibility might surprise Saab’s longtime clients, but he’s got his eye on new ones, and he’s likely to find a few with those special beaded numbers.
6 June 2016
Elie Saab isn’t afraid of grandeur; naturally, neither is his bride. The designer’s debut wedding collection yielded a lineup of 27 styles glamorous enough to make any bride’s trip down the aisle feel like a spin on the red carpet. Heavily embellished frocks—both long and short—reinforced Saab’s more-is-more aesthetic, but for wedding season, he used a light touch through lace, dotted tulle, and silk chiffon hinting at skin. Drawing upon the sort of silhouettes that have made him a favorite ofTaylor Swift,Ciara, andSarah Jessica Parker, the designer offered reinterpretations of signature pieces including his streamlined jumpsuit, amping up the feminine factor through a floral-embroidered bodice and sheer sleeves.Accessories, too, played a role; seen here were veils, coordinating headbands (some sprinkled with Swarovski crystals), and clutches—including one made from snow white mink. The Lebanese designer also offered four shoe styles, among them a bow-accented flat and lace peep-toe bootie. The unifying element to the collection was the attention to detail: From the artfully placed plumes on the feather bolero to the intricate beadwork on a tulle peasant blouse–style overshirt, the Saab bride will be ready for her close-up.
15 April 2016
Valentino will doubtless provide, Givenchy possibly too, and there were some options at Dior and Lanvin and Balmain (depending on how you roll). This Paris season, however, has been notable for its relative lack of eveningwear—most especially of the long and lacy variety. Cometh the hour, comethElie Saab.Saab is most definitely going through a reboot. Following last season’s bombers, there were biker jackets in this collection—some encrusted with pretty flower sculptured paillettes, others embroidered with more pretty florals. There was even a lace hoodie, worn above a lace crop top and lace slim-fit jogging pants. Absolutely reasonably, this house is looking to broaden its reach. You saw it too in the heavily fringed, velvet-flecked, ruffle-framed, wide-hatted, and narrowly be-scarved Ladies of The Canyon looks, or the luxe-grunge of his multi-length black fur wraps—a gentle but acutely navigated exploration of rock ’n’ roll imagery. The last two dresses of bead-edged leather panels were an especially effective pitch at dark romance. Only the occasional platform heel and the jarring interjection of a gaudily saccharine purple lace seemed out of time.Once they have found him, however, the new generation that Saab is looking to tap will stay because he specializes in finely made, riotously embellished dresses to rule the night in. He delivered plenty of them here.
5 March 2016
“Enter India,”Elie Saab’s program proclaimed. The muse of his new couture collection, the notes went on to explain, was a turn-of-the-last-century Englishwoman on a trip to the subcontinent. “India is her backdrop and her inspiration for a new blend of formalism and ease, opulence and elementary lines.” That read like a real departure for the designer, who tends to prefer the reassurance of the familiar. But lately the Beirut-based Saab has been focused on change.It began in earnest withhis Pre-Fall lineup, which featured sequined Wellies and studded creepers, and generally exuded a more youthful attitude. Here, his bid for hipness manifested itself most obviously in lace-up combat boots, mini backpacks, and sturdy-looking belt bags—all in metallic leather. They were unlikely sightings at haute couture, where accessories tend to be of the more precious variety. But subtler propositions, like the elevated, above-the-ankle hems on a few beaded lace dresses, were a delightful surprise. They looked fresh with lug-soled sandals.In general, the collection was a call and response between Edwardian silhouettes, which are not such a great leap chez Saab, and Indian pieces, which are. So you’d have a high-neck Edwardian-style dress followed by a cropped jacket with a Nehru collar and softly tailored pants trailing a split train, or a gown with a built-in beaded capelet, and coming up right behind it, a thigh-length number with a sari-like sash thrown over one shoulder.Some really different vibes seeped in late in the show when a model rolled out in full rock-star regalia: jeweled pants stuffed into boots, a crystalline camisole, and a matching coat that reached to the ground. The Beatles in India, maybe? Mr. Saab, book that look a flight to the Grammys.
27 January 2016
There is change afoot atElie Saab. That’s meant quite literally. In a full decade of Saab’s ready-to-wear collections, never before have we witnessed a Wellington boot. In leather with metallic sequin embroidery, these weren’t exactly the rubber versions so popular at Glastonbury, but the implication is all the same: Saab has his eye on a new, younger kind of customer.The shift began at hisSpring showback in October. Lengths were shorter, stripes were sportier,GigiandKendallboth walked. Here, the spirit wasn’t quite that exaggerated: Colors were a shade or two more muted, as is traditional chez Saab, and he traded the activewear references implicit in those stripes for a 1960s mod vibe, seen in little A-line shifts and tunic-and-flare combinations. We’d wager that this collection will be less of a stretch for Saab’s longtime clients—that is, except for those festival-ready Wellies. If those are a step too far, his ladies can opt for studded creepers with their lacy minidresses and all-in-ones. As for the girls who are just getting turned on to Saab’s confections, our guess is they’ll go for the trapeze-like proportions of a midi-length dress and the lacy macramé, slightly witchy layers of a deep-V number and a matching tie-neck coat.
7 December 2015
Elie Saabis an eveningwear specialist with an established formula for often monochromatic, unapologetically romantic gowns studded with embellishment that’s as intricate as his ambition is straightforward: Saab wants to make his customers happy. Many of these customers—literally, hundreds of them—were at his show today, as usual accounting for one enormous big-haired and super-spritzed bank of seating at his Tuileries venue. What they saw, though, seemed subtly different from the designer’s tried-and-tested narrative.“It’s not different,” demurred the man himself backstage afterward. “It’s the same. But themixis different.”In short, this meant the insertion of more separates and versatile day-to-night pieces before the introduction of Saab’s nocturnal standards. For proof, inspect the first looks on two of his big-name castings. BothGigi HadidandKendall Jennerwore mid-length dresses; Hadid’s was tiered in blue lace, Jenner’s black and with an empire line. Over these, they wore bomber jackets—Hadid’s in rich candy-striped gazar, Jenner’s in a more softly toned floral embroidery. Although he is not entirely new to the bomber, to put both of these bound-to-be-Insta’d models in the jacket sent a message; this was Saab-meets-street. To underline that, there was a distinctly un-Saab black-flashed white tracksuit worn with flat sandals and Jenner’s floral bomber—which acted as a radical foil to the more conventional pussy-bowed white jacket and wide pants in broderie anglaise that had preceded it. Leather mini suits with small floral cutouts; a soft silk armless striped jacket; a cute black lace bomber; and a crystal-spattered, floral-patched, halter-neck white minidress (almost tennis-like in its silhouette) were a few other examples of the new elements in Saab’s mix. It made for a pleasantly broadened watching experience. But he was careful to emphasize, however, that he wasn’t about to throw the baby out with the bathwater: He makes a mean macramé lace gown—simultaneously wistful and willful of aspect—and there were plenty here. The closer to the finale, the denser the eveningwear became, alive with fin, sparkle, ripple, and train. By the time his stars reappeared—Jenner in a deep-V crystal and lace jumpsuit with two trails of sheer black silk that ran from shoulder to ankle and whipped in the air as she walked, and Hadid in a complicatedly luxe-goth black open-front dress of lace and silk panels—normal service had resumed.
“I’ve just met many of my clients now and everybody is happy,” reported Saab. And if they’re happy, he’s happy.
3 October 2015
The Nirvana classic "Come as You Are" soundtracked today's Elie Saab show. But this was no grunge change of heart for the Lebanese couturier. Saab is hosting a party tonight to celebrate the opening of his second boutique in Paris. His tried-and-true formula of floor-scraping, mostly diaphanous dresses embroidered in varying degrees with beads, sequins, and appliqués is working well for him. From season to season, novelty has come from the color palette. This time around he worked mostly in shades of gold, inspired, as his notes explained, by his early work in the 1990s. His wife walked down the aisle in a golden wedding gown of Saab's creation 25 years ago this July 4.Beyond the flattering golden hues (preferable to the jewel tones he also employed), what distinguished this Saab collection from other ones was the generally light touch he used with embellishments and a mood that was often more innocent than va-va-voom. One of the freshest dresses paraded out on low-heeled velvet sandals, with a hemline raised insouciantly a couple of inches above the ankles. Another silhouette that surprised was a tunic and a pair of narrow trousers topped by a sleeveless coat, its shoulders ringed in bands of fur. Saab should consider exploring both of these new directions in the future. Elsewhere, the dresses felt more familiar, but if the show suffered from repetition, there were a few beauties. Two gowns in particular—one halter style, the other with thin chain-link shoulder straps—were embroidered with gold metal flowers in such a way that they shimmered like Klimts.
8 July 2015
There were seven mini themes nestled within Elie Saab's Resort collection, but no matter. The through-line was clear. The glamour of early 1970s California permeated things, from the palm leaves beaded onto silk tulle to the broderie anglaise gowns that hung away from the body. "Shady days and bright nights" is what he's calling it.The designer, whose work almost always emphasizes the waist, moved out of his comfort zone a bit, showing caftan and empire silhouettes alongside the more expected pleated-bodice gowns, hip-skimming embroidered jumpsuits, and lace-tipped tuxedo pants. One of Saab's great skills is perfectly executing popular trends, as he demonstrated with one of the collection's hero pieces: a striped ball gown. (It was graphic and eye-catching without looking contrived or too busy.)Although forever rooted in evening, the brand sees a lot of opportunity in "high day," which is retail jargon for dressy clothes meant to be worn when the sun is still shining. Little lace dresses in fetching colors like beigy pink and rust red showed once again that Saab knows how to make things look just right.
8 June 2015
Set in a forest of cardboard cutout trees, this was supposed to be a darkly romantic sylvan slink. Which it was. Elie Saab layered on more rustling foliage than you'd find in the Bois de Vincennes. Yet it transported to New York, too: It had the slickness, the glossiness, and the conventional decadence of the city's greatest billboard commercial designers—Burch, Kors, Herrera, et al.In Paris it is unusual to attend a show where the designer makes no attempt—even emptily, disingenuously, or cosmetically—at some artsy-fartsy proposition. Saab, to his credit, didn't bother. Instead he presented a collection heaped with leafiness: leafy printed macramé lace, leafy appliqué on leather, leafy chiffon, leafy-toned tweeds, and leafy-toned fox fur—you get the drift. Trousers were cut high, skirts were full, and cutaway panels accordioned around the crucial junctures—come-hither frescoes of flesh. Sure, a great many looks were black—and burgundy, too, seemed an odd choice for such an autumnally defined collection. But really, Saab knows what flatters, so why trouble with the small stuff?
7 March 2015
"Back then, Beirut seemed to be constantly adorned for a party that would never end." If you ever wondered where Elie Saab got his taste for sequins and crystals, it was spelled out in the chapbook he presented to guests at his Haute Couture show today. The Lebanese designer dedicated the collection to his past. A portrait of his parents when they were as young as Saab's own children are now graced the first pages of the catalog; in it his mother wears a tulip-print dress that provided a template for new embroideries. Saab is one of the most consistent couturiers around, known for glittering red-carpet fare, but using his '60s childhood (he called the period Beirut's "golden age") injected a certain freshness into his lineup. Above-the-knee party frocks trimmed in ostrich plumes were paired with low-heeled satin sandals, a first chez Saab. Other unexpected silhouettes—a sheer tulle jumpsuit with beads, a tulle robe coat with deep bands of feathers on the sleeve—signaled a new low-key attitude. In keeping with that relaxed spirit, nearly all the looks, gowns included, were built with pockets.Saab rarely uses prints, preferring the simplicity of a solid-color dress, but his mother's tulips proved a powerful totem this season. The watercolor floral of a strapless number with petal-like embroidery of point d'esprit and a short, flirty option in the same vivid pattern could be tempting alternatives for the woman who can't or doesn't want to wear the designer's plentiful sheer styles.
28 January 2015
For many designers, the in-between seasons are about margin drivers: the sorts of reliable standbys that are almost guaranteed to please existing clients. Elie Saab, however, wanted to bring something unexpected to Pre-Fall, introducing a slew of new techniques and fabrics. "Pre-collections are becoming increasingly important for the brand," said Saab. "Our customers are constantly looking for standout and unique pieces."Saab's theme was "folk reverie," which meant full skirts, harvest-inspired motifs, and fur—lots of it. He embroidered red and purple flowers and black lace, creating texture without the typical beading. An abstract floral brocade—another first—mimicked lace on party dresses and ball skirts, and a striped brocade was patchworked into a floral on a striking champagne gown. Fox fur accented a dramatic floor-length black coat—the dream party topper. A cutout floral jacket in red-dyed lamb's fur couldn't be ignored either. The folksy feeling has been in the eveningwear air for some time now, but Saab's interpretation was pretty, tasteful, and very much what his customer is after.
12 December 2014
Elie Saab is never going to send athletic attire down his runway—not even in the sense of clothes for running errands and such. But an unmistakable sport influence fueled his Spring collection, adding a few new points of interest to his reliably glamorous formula.As usual, Saab's decorative flourishes and finery were informed by an overarching theme, this time titled "Dive Into the Deep Blue." There were undulations of encrustations and hemlines that rippled like shorelines. The primary print suggested light reflecting off a koi pond. Lace inserts in blouses and slits in slinky twisted viscose cut the torso like fins. Still, there was more to this show than a life aquatic. Midway through, Saab sent out a grouping of dresses that are sure to make a splash on the red carpet. Their colors were rendered in Pointillist dégradé so that the '70s silhouettes warmed up from yellow to red or cooled down from cobalt to turquoise depending on how the colors were oriented. The two versions in black and white projected a contemporized chiaroscuro.As for the sporty bits, they played out as lace strips that contoured around the leg from outer hip to inner ankle, swimsuit-inspired dress bodices, and, wait for it, flat sandals. Whether they were a concession to the prevailing winds or an adjustment of his own eye, they confirmed that Saab is not above evolution.
29 September 2014
Daywear? Elie Saab has a ready-to-wear collection for that. At his Couture show today he was focused exclusively on after-dark. Saab made his point by lining the back of the runway with chandeliers, which were illuminated just moments before the first model made her grand entrance. The colors refracted in those chandeliers provided the palette: first blue, then pink, next blush, followed by black, white, and gray. For decoration, Saab preferred pearls. Tahitian blue for a navy chiffon goddess dress; white pearls on a long-sleeve princess gown; champagne-colored ones for a strapless cocktail number in a neutral shade of pink. The white-on-white looks were the prettiest, but damn if all those embellishments weren't heavy. A few of the models really struggled with their gowns, and the bride, with her acres of embroidered train, didn't fare much better. Surely one of Haute Couture's pleasures should be the way made-to-measure clothes feel on the body.Amid the tone-on-tone embroideries and the ombré effects, a sweeping ball gown in pink with tiny blue embroidery stood out. So did a couple of dresses that featured a lavish rose print. Saab should keep experimenting with print. For one thing, it's a whole lot lighter than pearls.
8 July 2014
Elie Saab has been known for eveningwear since he made his name with Halle Berry's Best Actress Oscar number a dozen years ago. Gowns will likely remain the core of his business, but more and more he's turning his attention to ready-to-wear. This season, he made a point of incorporating the embellishments and finery he uses for his occasion dresses on more casual pieces. So a silk crepe T-shirt was embroidered with the same matte sequins in the same swirling patterns as his red-carpet fare, and the jacket and pants of a blush-colored tracksuit were inset with delicate Chantilly lace. Saab also set about expanding the range of his daytime offerings, turning out what his press officer called his first-ever trenchcoat, and introducing a new leather group that included a dressy Perfecto jacket and a peplum waist sheath. A pair of black short-shorts even made it into the mix. It may take a while for Saab to convince shoppers that he's the one to turn to when they're stocking up for their next vacation. In the meantime, he makes a quite pretty long-sleeved lace dress.
11 June 2014
Elie Saab had a good night at the Oscars. No less a superstar than Angelina Jolie wore an haute couture dress by the Lebanese designer. Coming off a coup like that, it's no surprise he was inclined to focus on his eveningwear formula at his ready-to-wear presentation today. Saab called the collection Dark Opulence and said he was looking at the work of Mark Rothko. The artist's Color Field paintings made up a template of sorts for the designer's ombré effects. Bands of merlot and black colored a long strapless gown cut from ribbed silk, and a deep stripe of black bisected a pale rose tunic in the same material. These graphic looks felt new for Saab, who tends to prefer monochromatic color schemes. The dégradé velvets and chiffons of a long-sleeve minidress and a halter-neck evening number were less unexpected but quite pretty in a low-key way. Saab's print this season, a painterly floral with brushstrokes for petals, felt likewise subdued, probably because its background was black. He saved the opulence for the end, closing with a group of burgundy, emerald green, or black dresses densely embroidered with paillettes. The black one with the thigh-high slit had Jolie's name all over it.
2 March 2014
The nineteenth-century Dutch artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema painted scenes from the Roman Empire. His subjects always seemed to be reclining amid marble statuary, and there was a good chance that the Mediterranean Sea was shimmering in the background. Elie Saab set out to capture a bit of that idyllic ambiance with his new couture show. His pastel colors—blush pink, hydrangea blue, and lilac—were lifted from an Alma-Tadema canvas, and the collections empire waists and gently draped volumes were suggestive of classical dress.Saab is synonymous with red-carpet sparkle, and there was plenty of that here, as usual. But perhaps sensing that a refresh wouldnt go unappreciated, interspersed among his signature embroideries and appliqués were a handful of gossamer-light pleated goddess gowns. Strapless, plunge-front, or one-shouldered, the plissé numbers felt of-this-moment. (A quick study of the Golden Globes and the SAGs indicate that awards-show bling is trending downward.) Also pretty: a trio of flower-print gowns that shaded from black near the neckline to white at the hem, with countless colorful blooms in between. The panniers at the hips of the silk gazar number gave it a fairy-tale feel, but we could see either of the other two, in gauze or silk mousseline, turning up on a celebrity. It was likewise nice to see Saab move beyond his monochromatic comfort zone with a pair of long dresses boasting fluid skirts in an ombré of violet, citrine, vivid blue, and coral, like an Alma-Tadema sky.
21 January 2014
The expectation with Elie Saab is always that there will be beautiful lace and embroidery. On both counts, the designer did not disappoint with his pre-fall collection. But it was a surprise and pleasure to see how the workmanship that goes into those materials could be applied to cashmere and fur. The former, for instance, played a starring role in a jacket-cape hybrid. Double-faced instead of lined, the cashmere formed softly around the torso, opening from the shoulders into a sleeveless, swingy back. That same controlled trapeze shape reappeared in a suit jacket contoured with satin and zippers, as well as a lace and organza tunic in ultramarine. Though this silhouette is conducive to a spectrum of figures, the fit-and-flare remains Saab's standby. As a modest evolution, dresses were shown in a new perforated, ribbed fabric cut in body-contouring panels that left a more precise effect than lace. More important, it strikes the right amount of red-carpet sizzle to ensure its use beyond one-season wonder.Meanwhile Saab seemed to figure that pre-fall was an opportunity to push further into the accessories market. His heels adopted the same contouring as his dresses, and it goes without saying that the bags—available in metallic-finish exotic skins—are not season-specific. The roomy, tissue-box-size clutch solves the problem of what to carry when wearing the coat-cape. All told, this was a thoughtful collection—even if it never once deviated from Saab's feminine ideal.
17 January 2014
Elie Saab went back to the garden for Spring. "A Lace Garden," he called it. There were scads of the stuff in his pretty collection today, all in the colors of flowers: camellia white, rosy pink, bright bougainvillea, and a vivid green. To see this show was to be reminded of how commonplace sheer fabrics and views of the bare skin underneath have become on the runways, even while they're still scandalously off-limits on the red carpets. Points to Saab's stylist for finding ways to make the see-through lace look discreet; lingerie could become a growth market for the designer. Saab gave his filigreed dresses a graphic edge this season with the grosgrain ribbon he used to trim seams. Also new: not one, but two prints. It's rare to see anything but monochrome on Saab's runway, but here, colorful roses appeared on the hem of a white party dress and the neckline of a white jumpsuit. There was also a black and white chiaroscuro lace dotted with more flowers that decorated gowns from bust to hem. The chiaroscuro came out ahead. Even if the color black doesn't have much place in a rose garden, the black lace dresses at the end of Saab's collection stole the show. A halter style that alternated horizontal bands of silk crepe and lace was gorgeous, but getting back to that attractive sense of discretion, the best-looking dress was opaque everywhere except for its lace sleeves.
29 September 2013
"Royally opulent silhouettes appear from between the columns of the Palais Brongniart," Elie Saab's program announced. But that's only half right. It wasn't the silhouettes that were opulent; by couture standards the construction of the gowns was quite simple. Corseted bodices were far outnumbered by softer, draped styles, and the designer opened with what was essentially a floor-length T-shirt dress, albeit in tulle embellished all over with crystals.Saab prefers to lavish his attentions and significant resources not on his shapes but on his embroideries and beadwork. This season, these were inspired by jewels in a crown: ruby, emerald, and sapphire. He is a firm believer in monochrome, red sequins on red silk, blue paillettes on blue lace, etc. The effect on the runway can be monotonous, even if it's a recipe for success—pretty and safe—on the red carpet. That's why the numbers that appeared at the end of the show—dresses covered neckline to hem in multicolor beads—made such an impact. We'd like to see Saab push this idea further. And why not play around with print a bit?Of course, nothing made as big an impact as Saab's bride, who wore a gown fashioned from layer upon layer of tulle sumptuously embroidered with quartz, crystal, and glitter, and a veil to match. The dress was a good few inches too long for the model; a bride would never make it down the aisle, not even with the three bridesmaids this one had to carry her train. But the princess who orders it for her own wedding will have Saab's atelier at her disposal to make the necessary adjustments.
2 July 2013
This collection marked something of a change for Elie Saab: To put it plainly, he seemed to be courting the youth market, not only by introducing shorter skirt lengths and freer silhouettes, but also by giving a bit more edge to his looks. The most surprising pieces here were abbreviated silk/cotton dresses with a spiderweb of suggestive cutouts—a step out for Saab. Elsewhere, he pulled the cutout theme back into his signature aesthetic by applying it to slinky gowns in black lace or tomato-red silk. The cutouts were only one example of the emphasis on the graphic—some of Saab's punchiest looks were in stark black and white, like the asymmetric white minidress with its slash of black. The flip side to the graphic were the many sculptural flourishes, in particular the capes and bell-shaped sleeves. This motif was more predictable from Saab, and predictably, he executed it well. The standout here was a white bootleg jumpsuit with a floor-length cape—a garment that captured some of the collection's youthful joie de vivre without stooping to look anything other than entirely grown-up.
27 June 2013
It was hard to stifle an eye roll when Elie Saab's smoke machine hissed awake at the start of his show today. After four solid weeks of shows, the fashion crowd is over stunts. The good news is, once the smoke cleared, Saab's runway was gimmick free. He's got his formula and he sticks to it. Strictly Decorative, he called the show, but that applied mostly to his daywear, which had a somewhat regimental feel in navy and black. There was sleek tailoring in crepe satin, and a few take-no-prisoners sheaths with waist-accentuating peplums topped by fitted jackets. A sweeter pinafore dress with a full skirt looked out of place among all that rigor.For evening, Saab softened things up, adding colors like teal blue, violet, and chartreuse yellow to his lineup of white and black, and, as is his custom, laying on the sequins and beads. Picking up where his couture collection left off, he experimented with sheer tulle insets and peekaboo laces, which meant that while the silhouettes were modest, the results were still quite suggestive. Among the finer pieces was a demure cocktail dress in black lace with varying degrees of transparency, and a full-skirted black gown with an embroidered lace bodice and sleeves.
5 March 2013
Elie Saab's phone has been ringing all week with celebrity stylists saying they'll be calling as soon as the Couture pictures are online. Either that, or they're asking for photos of the dozen or so dresses that aren't appearing on the catwalk. If it doesn't make it down the runway, it looks custom on the red carpet, even if if isn't. That can make the difference when an actress is choosing her gown for the Oscars.Saab seduced Hollywood years ago. The fashion crowd has taken longer to come around. Insiders saw shades of other designers in his dresses today—floor-skimming capes that called to mind Gwyneth Paltrow's white Tom Ford from last year's Academy Awards, demure necklines and long sleeves evocative of recent Valentino collections.What was signature Saab, of course, was the beadwork, this time rendered in tone-on-tone or silvery embroideries on lace and tulle of varying transparencies. An Ode to Delicateness, he called the collection, and, indeed, with illusion necklines and sheer sleeves, his creations at times seemed to float on the body. Saab used mostly pastels, with a touch of red and black. He's always favored solid colors; prints have proven tricky for him. This time, though, a subtle multicolor floral over-embroidered in black beads produced the most charming dresses, especially a three-quarter-sleeve, full-skirted party number. It's not Oscars material, but it was a knockout.
22 January 2013
To see Elie Saab's haute couture show and pre-fall lineup on the same day gives you a good sense of how much his company has grown. It wasn't all that long ago that his ready-to-wear collections were devoted strictly to cocktail and event dressing. His pre-fall offerings put the emphasis primarily on clothes to wear before dark.Saab is justly famous for the attention he lavishes on beadwork; here, his laser focus was directed at fit. His customers like their sleeveless sheaths second-skin snug, with a kicky peplum at the waist, and their suits cut with an exacting precision. You couldn't slouch in these clothes if you tried. To keep the familiar silhouettes fresh, he explored the idea of collage. A chesterfield came with doubled revers, a velvet blazer with contrasting wool sleeves, and dresses in geometric blocks of color. Sheer insets featured on many of the looks.Counterbalancing all of that rigor was a series of caftans, both short and long, some with asymmetrical sleeves. He's often put caftans on the runway, but they're usually beaded to the hilt. These had an unfettered appeal that made them believable for day.
22 January 2013
Elie Saab dubbed his collection Heiress, but this aristo has a job. No lolling about in raw-edged silk pajama pants and fur-lined shower shoes for her. Saab emphasized daywear here, shirts that buttoned all the way up to the collar worn with flap-pocket trousers or pencil skirts, and for dresses, a fitted sheath or a V-neck with a pleated A-line skirt. The models wore cross-body bags or carried big totes—Saab meant business. He worked with strong, monochrome colors: royal blue, turquoise, raspberry pink. Most of them appeared in a bold abstract print used for a passage of floaty chiffon dresses. The dresses were a change of pace for Saab and not a bad one, even though most of Paris has moved on from the digital print craze.For evening, Saab's big idea was to sculpt dresses at the waist with grosgrain. The look was graphic on an ivory column embroidered with dark brown ribbons. He re-created the effect on sequined cocktail numbers and gowns with geometric inserts of lace tracing the natural curves of the body. That experiment produced the collection's best piece, a three-quarter-sleeve raspberry pink dress on Magdalena Frackowiak that sizzled as she came down the runway.
2 October 2012
In Constantinople's Wake was the name Elie Saab gave his show. The Byzantine Empire proved fertile territory for the designer. This was one of his prettiest shows to date, focused, as is his custom at Couture, almost entirely on cocktail dresses and evening gowns, and remarkably light despite the resplendence of all its thousands of beads, sequins, and crystals. It helped that he chose such delicate fabrics—Chantilly lace, silk jacquards that looked gold leafed, and a mosaic-print georgette—and that he used such soft shades of pink and blue. In the past, Saab's colors have appeared dull or muddy. Not here, although a vivid jade felt garish in comparison to the sun-washed pastels.He opened with a caftan shape in embroidered black tulle. The silhouette looked novel for him, but he mostly stuck to his Oscar-winning formula of red-carpet frocks. His talents don't lie as much in patternmaking (the cuts are quite simple and repetitive) as they do in his way with embellishments: where he insets lace or stitches paillettes, how low a dress dips in back, how high a slit rises on the thigh. A sky blue silk crepe dress with gold guipure lace scrolling down one arm and side was particularly lovely. It'll be a lucky actress who gets to wear it first.
3 July 2012
Shorts from Elie Saab? As unlikely as it sounds, believe it. The red-carpet favorite is building his daywear business and shorts are trending at the moment, so he put a couple pairs in his Resort collection. They came in a black and white tweed and a gray shade with tuxedo stripes on the sides, but there was nothing conservative about their length. Indeed, most of Saab's new collection has a body-conscious feel, be it a clingy stretch knit dress with lace insets, or a fitted peplum top and narrow pencil skirt. As usual, he kept the color palette tight and offered everything in multiple options. Like the apple green sheath with origami folds at the shoulders and waist? You can also get it in orchid, chesnut, or black. It was no surprise, either, that his evening dresses were the highlights. Two in particular are worth mentioning. The first came in black jersey with tulle insets at the shoulders; the second followed the same slim lines but was made from sequin-embellished lace.
28 June 2012
Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo wore a mint green couture confection by Elie Saab at the Academy Awards last month. With that feather in his cap, the designer put the accent on daywear today. Urban Elegance was the name he gave the collection. For the most part, it was as gray as the skies have been all week here in Paris, but it offered more variety than you usually find on a Saab runway.The oversize tailoring that has dominated other catwalks this season isn't this designer's thing. His skirtsuits and sheaths are cut to fit, with hourglass color-blocking made to further enhance a woman's shape. A dove gray one-sleeved blouse looked simple and chic tucked into high-waisted black pants. Saab is a little less sure-handed when it comes to prints: The bronze tree branches on both knee-length and to-the-floor numbers looked busy.For evening, Saab showed some sparkly emerald green column gowns followed by a few more in gold or silver sequins. A couple of the slits extended dangerously high up the leg—that's the wrong kind of exposed lingerie. But presumably, details like that will be sorted out before the dresses make their inevitable way to Hollywood.
6 March 2012
Elie Saab is a name you hear on the red carpet more and more these days. What makes the Lebanese designer so popular with the Hollywood crowd? An influential celebrity stylist told us, "His dresses are shiny, uncomplicated, and easy to digest." That sums up Saab's new Couture offering quite well. He showed full-skirted party frocks and slim evening gowns in a rainbow of pastel shades, nearly all of them sparkly. What separated one from the next was the vertiginousness of a neckline, the presence or absence of sleeves, the length of a train, and the occasional cape. He included one print, an oversize botanical, but it looked like an afterthought amid all that pink, peach, yellow, mint green, and baby blue.Our stylist friend neglected to mention one thing in her explanation of Saab's success: lightness. Despite all the handwork, these dresses—with the exception of an uncharacteristically heavy wedding gown—appeared almost weightless. That's gotta count for something when you could be walking away from the Oscars with a statuette.
24 January 2012
Elie Saab's reputation as a red-carpet designer is well earned. Everyone from Jessica Biel to Halle Berry to current Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo has name-checked him at one awards show or another. But women, even women of the movie star variety, can't live on diamanté-encrusted evening gowns alone. So Saab has been emphasizing daywear in his pre-collections of late. Here, he took a strict, almost minimalist approach, cutting most of his suits and dresses in monotone shades of nude, blue, or black and keeping decorative details like a fox collar, a peplum waist, or contrast piping to a minimum. His formal options followed the same principle: Yes, there was beading, but it came in chevrons of matte and shiny sequins, which gave the form-fitting gowns a modern, graphic feel.
24 January 2012
Elie Saab named his Spring collection Color Shock, and though he opened with a group of pearly pales, he soon segued into more vivid shades in the bright thread he began for Resort. That collection scored him big at the Emmys a few weeks ago; Kate Winslet wore his clean-lined but clingy scarlet gown. It stands to reason that many of these HD-ready, eye-catching dresses—in particular, an emerald plunge-neck style with snaking trails of sequins and the plummy chiffon number with tiny lace cap sleeves—will meet a similar Ryan Seacrest-discussed fate.Saab's biggest evening statement was sequins, which came graduated and rippling or set into plissé pleats. When he went unembellished, the drama came from languid and floaty seventies-ish silhouettes with tie necks or sexy asymmetrical necklines and up-to-there slits. The third building block was lace, which was actually most interesting when it was barely detectable, set into seams of neat wool daywear dresses.Saab has probably the only ready-to-wear show with a separate line outside for clients. It's for them that he cycles so extensively through his chosen palette, repeating near identical styles. They may eat it up, but as usual the editorial set got a little glazed over. The only shock was the natural wonder of Karlie Kloss' legs closing the show.
4 October 2011
Elie Saab has saidà bientôtto Miss Havisham. Where his January Couture show drooped under the weight of heavy embellishments, this collection felt a bit lighter and—it follows—more modern. That's not to say that the designer has changed his look; there were still scads of beads and crystals, as befits the haute couture, and even strips of fur were used as accents. But Saab's diaphanous, fairy princess dresses felt of this Paris moment. He caught the feeling for the long-sleeved, slim gowns that we've seen elsewhere, opening with one in an icy gray-blue tulle that was draped and gathered at the waist and accented with metallic silver.Next up was a sleeveless full-length dress followed by a knee-skimming number in the same shade of aquamarine. Saab worked his methodical way through his palette. After a section in pale blue came white, then pink, mauve, and brown. He ended with a navy group and a single bride in platinum white. It seemed there was a backless dress in every color. Saab's old-fashioned, repetitive way of showing detracts from his precious workmanship. He's seen fit to upgrade the clothes themselves; now, perhaps it's time to update his presentations. He could start by kissing the wind machine good-bye.
5 July 2011
Elie Saab is out to change his all-evening-dresses-all-the-time image. The Beirut-based designer hired photographer Cedric Buchet to photograph a model in a pantsuit for his Fall ad campaign, and there were more of those fitted looks in his first-ever Resort collection. Nothing androgynous about Saab's two-piecers. Double crepe jackets were cut close to the body with a little flip at the hem, and trousers came in two styles: lean and leaner. A chartreuse tie-neck blouse worn with high-waisted pants as snug as jodhpurs played into fashion's current fixation with neons. After-dark options were likewise bright—fuchsia, turquoise, red—but the silhouettes weren't as new. No matter, his celebrity following will snap them up for the red carpet.
28 June 2011
Here's a sample sequence from Elie Saab's show: plum crepe belted slim dress, plum crepe belted dress with A-line skirt, plum crepe A-line dress with inverted pleat. The Lebanese designer makes perfectly fine clothes, but his insistence on turning his runway presentation into a catalog shoot dilutes his message. If Miuccia Prada doesn't need 50 looks to make her point, then there's no way Saab should.This season, his message is Parisian, specificallyBelle de Jour. The designer doesn't do retro, so there was only a faint whiff of the sixties, a decade that has proved so popular elsewhere. Black and buff predominated, but there was also gray, dark red, and an abstract multicolor print, and the silhouette was close to the body. Saab worked his way through all sorts of dresses in each of those colors; still the evening gowns are what celebrity stylists will be paying attention to. They didn't have much to do with Buñuel and Deneuve, but Karlie Kloss' buff sleeveless number and Anja Rubik's long-sleeve black sparkler were the hits here.
8 March 2011
Can it really be nearly ten years sinceElie Saabcaught the world's attention when he dressed Halle Berry for the Oscars? Of course, it was actually Halle who bagged the eyeball time, because Saab let her let it all hang out. My, how times have changed. Sure, there was plenty of décolleté, and sinuous limbs slipping out from skirts that were, at times, almost too split, but what today's show really evoked was the up-to-the-neck missy-ness of Norma Shearer, an Oscar winner from centuries ago. One long tulle and organza gown, piled with flowers at the shoulder and tied with grosgrain at the waist, would surely have driven La Shearer into a paroxysm of desire. Coupled with the exceptionally sweet hair and makeup, this peculiar sense of propriety took Saab's collection into territory that was new for him. It was certainly a world away from the sparks struck by his last Couture show. Just look at the bride—last time, she shimmered with hints of gold. Here, her gown drooped with organza flowers and tatters of mousseline, and her veil was almost shroudlike. "Miss Havisham," suggested one waggish onlooker. Now that's a role that could win a woman an Oscar.
25 January 2011
It was back to the seventies at Elie Saab, as on so many other runways this season. The designer name-checked Bianca, Lauren, and Diane, and he attempted to conjure the wild nights of Studio 54 with a lineup that was long on jersey, chiffon, sequins, and the decade's requisite platform sandals. If it felt like a tepid reimagining of that heady era, especially in light of the disco-y decadence of Louis Vuitton a few hours later, that may be partly explained by the fact that Saab does such a big business with the Hollywood crowd. No actress wants to land on the worst-dressed list, which means today's red-carpet dressing only pushes the boundaries so far.Saab's formula for Spring was best summed up by the closing dress, a blush-peach asymmetrical gown embroidered in tiny squares of sequins: a little bit of shine and a little bit of shoulder, with a glossy mane and lids lined in yellow shadow to match. Michel Gaubert's soundtrack of Rolling Stones, Blondie, and Diana Ross tunes worked hard to add some sizzle to the proceedings, but the green chartreuse, apricot, slate blue, and smoky white palette didn't want to comply. A close-fitting column gown ruched on the torso and a cocktail dress with the same draped detail down its back provided a couple of pulse-quickening moments. But you left wanting more of them.
5 October 2010
Elie Saab loves La Fenice, Venice's legendary opera house. As its name would suggest, this phoenix has burned to the ground and risen from the flames three times. For his Fall Couture collection, Saab borrowed the ruched velvet of La Fenice's curtains, the gilt and blue of its decoration, and even the fire and ash of its hellish moments for one multicolored mousseline gown. Given that backstory, the result was understandably a little overwrought.Before the show, Saab said, "If a woman doesn't want 'rich,' she doesn't come to couture." So rich was what he gave her, from the moment Karolina Kurkova sashayed out onto the catwalk in a gown of deep red guipure lace swathed in silk tulle. The dress that followed her was short but scarcely simpler, with its bands of chiffon and lace liberally doused with sequins.The designer claimed he was breaking some personal ground with his focus on classical draping. There was lots of asymmetric single-shoulder action, and he was also keen to pay more attention to the back of his dresses. That's where the décolleté was this season, which often left the front decorously covered up to the throat. Put that together with the color scheme; the broad-shouldered, bat-winged proportions; and the embellishment of the fabrics, and the collection felt heavy, even slightly old-fashioned. Saab is a proven master of red-carpet dressing, but these clothes sometimes made one wonder in exactly what decade that carpet was being unrolled.
6 July 2010
Elie Saab scored some major red-carpet coups at the Oscars on Sunday, putting nominee Anna Kendrick in a blush pink gown and Rachel McAdams in a pastel floral number—both dresses from his January couture collection and both unapologetically pretty. For Fall, he took a much darker view, focusing primarily on black, with hits of burgundy, teal, and midnight blue for evening. His message would've been more powerful and effective had he edited down the 60-look show and eliminated the clingy tree-motif jerseys, but his sleek hourglass sheaths and flirty, full-skirted pieced lace cocktail dresses will appeal to more than just Hollywood starlets.Zeroing in on real-world clothes rather than his usual event-dress-heavy lineup was a prescient move in a season when designers en masse have been rediscovering the power of plain. You couldn't call all of his eveningwear restrained, though: There were some see-through ombré net and peekaboo lace styles that, as any celebrity stylist could tell you, will never fly with the fashion police. But when Saab tamped down the excess in favor of understated goddess gowns and just-revealing-enough jewel-tone sequined columns, it was easy to picture the results on a red carpet sometime soon.
9 March 2010
Elie Saab is taking a break from the out-and-out glamour of Hollywood movie sirens. This season, he got the memos about a softer romanticism and pale, washed-out colors—not quite the sweet-pea pastels others have been using, but dusty tints of bois de rose, mauve, celadon, and plenty of foundation-shade beiges. That earned him some points—as did the decision to hold the jewelry and complicated updos and keep the makeup relatively natural. The presentation seemed less stilted, younger, and more modern—to a degree. Saab still likes to be absolutely sure no one misses the point of his dresses, and since there were essentially four shapes in a 44-look show, quite a lot of surreptitious Blackberry twiddling had broken out in the audience a quarter of the way in.To give Saab his due, those templates—repeated, catalog-style, with multiple fabrics, embroideries, and neckline options—were in sync with the general drift of fashion. The double-layered dress with a slim inner column and a sheer, petal-embroidered over-piece dragging a little train was the best of the bunch in a dressy-grunge type of way. The short flower-appliquéd dresses with boleros also chimed with a section of this week's Dior show, which increases their chances of being paired up in fashion stories. Among the also-rans were the draped, slit bustier dresses showing a flash of lace (last season's lingerie fad), and one over-crinolined and petticoated strapless ball gown. It could certainly answer every little girl's prayer, but in the end, it was just a bit too fantasy-prom to cut it in Couture week.
26 January 2010
Elie Saab went in a bold new direction for Spring—straight into Balmain territory. Five looks in, there it was: a black nipped-waist jacket with a modified, slightly less intense take on Christophe Decarnin's tennis-ball shoulder. The latter designer's sexy, take-no-prisoners vibe could also be seen in the zigzagging crystal embroideries of a one-shoulder dress.The Balmain effect is so widespread at this point that it might seem mean-spirited to bring it up, but it was a hard-to-ignore departure for the Lebanese designer known as the go-to guy for Hollywood awards shows. Still, Saab didn't leave the celebrity-pleasing dresses completely out of the equation. For Spring, his draped and ruched glamour gowns were shown in pool blue and cherry red. The collection's most pleasant surprises were a narrow sheath and a column gown in a digital print that combined those colors with yellow and black. They were striking, and felt more original.
6 October 2009
Quite what thought process did Elie Saab go through in choosing to stage an all-white Couture show in the selfsame former Rue Cambon bank where Karl Lagerfeld put on his amazingly lyrical all-white show in January? Did he think the audience wouldn't notice? Or does he really feel comfortable comparing himself to the Kaiser? Or was he simply oblivious to what had taken place there six months ago? Any which way it came about, Saab would have to be remarkably insensitive not to realize that it was going to cause a sharp intake of breath and suppressed giggles among people who know about fashion.That noted (which it must be), following in Lagerfeld's footsteps—with short, white, graphic-shouldered and fluffy-skirted dresses—did seem to effect an update in Saab's point of view. A lot of work went into the surface decorations: the flowers made of raw-edged disks of tulle, the appliqués of single ostrich feathers, and the sprinklings of crystal. At one point, so many variations on the short theme had passed that it almost seemed like Saab had decided to devote himself to a whole new young, hip customer. Yet it wasn't to be: The lineup then reverted to the designer's more typical long dresses as if a separate collection were commencing. The shapes in this section were Empire or mermaid, silver-beaded Hollywood siren gowns interspersed with some more modern takes on Amazonian asymmetric shoulder straps and shoulder architecture. Taken individually, and put into real-life social events, there'll be nothing egregious or at all embarrassing about any of these Saab creations. They'll look current, but more thanks to Chanel than Elie Saab.
7 July 2009
The Elie Saab show started on a promising note. First he switched up the mise-en-scène, trading in the nightclub-y mirrored runway for a plain, white-planked version more befitting the early hour. Second and more importantly, he put a big emphasis on daywear, specifically forties-esque sheaths in powder gray with topstitching that sculpted ladylike curves into the models' waifish frames. His high-waisted skinny black pants and little bolero jackets with fur and feather detailing were glam, but in a lower key than he usually operates in.That clarity of vision faltered a bit when it came to after-dark dressing. Saab has several different markets to satisfy—Hollywood, the Middle East (he's a native of Lebanon), and fashion land—and he trotted out something for each constituency. In order: red-carpet-tested goddess gowns; structured bustier dresses, including a vivid purple number with a single long sleeve; and black crystal-embroidered minidresses and leggings that were almost rock 'n' roll. The evening section could've been cut in half, but even if this show didn't end as strongly as it began, it was still something of a happy surprise from Saab.
10 March 2009
A cleaner, minimalist setting for Elie Saab's Spring couture made a welcome change: The fancy gold ormolu of the Grand Hotel (his usual venue) coupled with all those chiffons and Swarovski crystals could feel suffocating. This season, the more modern framework of the Palais de Tokyo showcased some of his better points, starting with a palette of pale beige to nude and dusty, barely there tints of violet, pastel blue, and oyster. As a Lebanese designer with a big business in Beirut and Paris, you'd think Saab might have fewer worries about sales, but rumor has it that Middle Eastern consumers are also exhibiting caution, so perhaps the relatively restrained colors reflect that.It was, of course, eveningwear as usual (the world hasn't changed that much), this time with a smattering of obi belts and a slight sense of Japanese styling inserted here and there. That produced some pretty rear views, as when bows were planted at the base of bare backs and kimono-sleeved negligee coats were shrugged on as cover-ups. Highly worked fabrics like brocade and cloque and deeply textured 3-D chiffon appliqués gave a bit of hefty upholstering to some silhouettes (the pannier hip padding on a couple of pieces only added to the borderline mother-of-the-bride effects). Still, among the 49 looks, there were plenty of traditional red-carpet gowns that could end up on choice rails for Oscar attendees.
27 January 2009
Watching a show by Elie Saab, who built his reputation on the backs of Hollywood's glamour girls, the question is always the same: Can you picture a celebrity wearing that? More often than not this season the answer was not likely. The Easter-egg color palette—hydrangea blue, lavender, daffodil, and apple green—will be the first stumbling block. Other obstacles include the outsize ruffles, awkward proportions on what few day looks there were, and fabrics and construction that just didn't look like the best that money can buy. Another issue: a sky-high slit that exposed one model's undies. Come to think of it, that dress may have a certain appeal for some of our starlets.The pieces that worked came unsurprisingly from the silvery-gray portion of the collection: a short dress embroidered all over in metallic paillettes and a long stretch knit dress with a deep décolletage. Thinking more along those lines will make Saab's collection relevant to the likes of Dita Von Teese and Milla Jovovich, both of whom sat in his front row.
3 October 2008
There's quite a debate about what "haute couture" means these days, but if it can be reduced to a synonym for "occasionwear," then Elie Saab is the go-to designer, one who can be trusted to lay on a thorough service for his mainly Middle Eastern clients. Whatever the stated inspiration—in this case, the Sistine Chapel—his collection always boils down to (or rather extends into) the longest parade of evening gowns on the Paris runway. Michelangelo provided him with a color chart vaguely matched to the blues and browns of Renaissance art, one print of clouds and cerulean sky, and an excuse for letting loose with extravagant flourishes of drapery.The silhouettes were whipped up in dozens of meters of taffeta and georgette caught up into off-the-shoulder swags, bunchy jutting bustiers, fabric rosettes, and floor-sweeping trains. If it hardly amounted to a soaringly imaginative ode to one of the greatest works in the canon of art history, Saab did add a touch that puts him in line with an emerging look of the season: a layer of lace petticoat glimpsed through beneath chiffon skirts.
1 July 2008
Elie Saab's bread-and-butter is red-carpet clothes. But watching his show didn't conjure the glamour of celebrity so much as it did the tyranny of celebrity magazines, the trashy must-reads in which the stars' wardrobe choices are more often lambasted than cheered. Why? Because, in a risk-averse collection, the personality had been all but removed from the majority of Saab's gowns. Or maybe it was the sheer variety that numbed.Inspired, his program notes said, by Mondrian's canvases, the designer cut his evening dresses in bright primaries like kelly green, deep red, and sky blue, along with black, and in styles that ranged from a strapless, narrow sequined sparkler to an entirely unrelated lawn gown that billowed in soft layers below the bust. In between, there were taffeta-and-velvet combos, lace, and countless bows.Fewer in number were the chiffon dresses in multicolor Mondrian prints (the best a tiered halter that tied saucily in a long bow at the neck) and a pair of black-and-white De Stijl-influenced columns. Graphic and bold, they didn't play it safe like the others. Which means the gossip rags won't like them, but we did.
29 February 2008
"Diamonds Are Forever" was the theme song Elie Saab had in mind for his Spring couture show. It wasn't literally on the soundtrack, but the entire collection was based on the sparkle and color variations of the world's most expensive rocks. It certainly looked as if he'd invested in a mine of silver sequins and crystal—they were lavished on every number: sprinkled over tissue-fine silk, chiffon, and satin; smothered over bolero cardigans; and clustered in chunks on bustiers. The cumulative impression—all those flouncy skirts and body-line siren dresses, the pastel pinks, blues, yellows, and violets and trimmings of ostrich—called to mindDancing With the Stars. (Well, let's not forget it's a TV hit all over the world.) If that makes Saab a designer who understands the popular appeal of all-out glamour more than the high-minded conceptualism of traditional haute couture, it certainly hurts his business not one jot. The audience was packed with clients who visibly appreciated every minute.
22 January 2008
Hear Saab's name trumpeted at an awards show and you can be guaranteed a few things: sequins, curves, a fair bit of skin. And he didn't stray from the program in his overlong show for Spring. He had dresses for all sorts of Hollywood types: fifties fit-and-flare in large-scale florals for starlets, silvery Art Deco sequins for sirens, floor-sweeping chiffon for grandes dames. And he had them, to borrow an expression from garmento parlance, in many different colorways: red, green, purple, blue, yellow, straight out of the Crayola box.If it sounds a bit all over the place, it was. At 60 looks, the collection needed a major edit. You would've expected that if Saab had learned anything that fateful night when Halle Berry wore his nude-torsoed, leaf-scattered, russet gown to win her Oscar, it would be that the leading ladies he's outfitting demand something unique. As it was, this felt more like a tour through a garment-district wholesaler than a glimpse of precious one-offs bound for the Kodak Theatre.
5 October 2007
Elie Saab's show was a silver-screen moment that felt like a feature-length movie played on an unending loop. It was a collection of 55 mostly silver and gray evening dresses, with a bit of black for good measure, done with Deco spangles, strapless corsetry, and much reiteration in the one-shouldered goddess/sari department. While there's nothing wrong, per se, with taking a narrow field and exploring it in depth, this performance seemed more like catalog than couture. Where Saab went wrong was in contravening an unwritten code that distinguishes couturiers from merely serviceable dressmakers. That is, every single outfit should be special in its own right, and make a woman feel that, if she chooses it, she will stand out from fellow clients who might also turn up on the same evening. No matter how much slaved-over beading, pleating, and other minute handwork went into this collection, the onslaught of repetition thoroughly undermined it. There is a place for high glamour, even a role for design that is not too challenging, in couture. But to take Saab's movie reference to its logical conclusion, he would do well to learn that a compelling story is far better told when the extraneous footage hits the cutting-room floor.
3 July 2007
Beyoncé radiating heat at the Golden Globes in his plunging metallic dress—proof positive that Elie Saab's name has been firmly established on the red carpet. Now, he's set his sights on after-dark occasions that don't necessarily entail a press line. There were eighties-ish one-sleeve billowy tops and stretch minis for nightclubbing, baby dolls in black lace for 21st-birthday parties, and long velvet dresses with blouson tops and bias-cut skirts for charity balls. Of course, you never know when you'll run into a camera—which explains the light-catching sequins that decorated so many looks, and why his faux leather (easier than the real stuff to embroider, apparently) had a shiny, wet, photo-ready look.When he did go full-on glam, it was with emerald-green and violet crystals arrayed in sunburst patterns on a base of black. Out in Hollywood, of course, bare shoulders trumped sparkle at the Oscars, so a strapless black organza number with that faux leather accenting the bust looks like a bigger winner.There were exactly zero pants on Saab's runway, and his shorts came in one length only: micro. What to make of the lack of real daywear, especially on the eve of the opening of his first Paris store? Put simply, Saab lives for the night, and so do his ladies.
3 March 2007
Steadfastly refusing to take last summer's conflict in Lebanon as any kind of setback, Elie Saab said he based his couture collection on "the colors of dawn over Beirut," and his compatriots' ability "to make beautiful things in the face of adversity." Compared with his recent all-gold, reach-for-your-shades ready-to-wear show, that made for a lighter and somewhat subtler affair in silvered tints of blue, lilac, and eau-de-nil.Still, Saab isn't a couturier to hammer on high concepts or political subtexts. With the Golden Globes down and Beyoncé, Felicity Huffman, and Sheryl Crow in the bag, he's produced a gazillion more options for Oscar night—and for any other event at which a girl might find herself in need of a scintillating something or other. Spun out en masse, the vast array of dresses in either fluid metallics or accordion pleats made for a slightly daunting fashion show. But there were winners, including a pale-blue silvery wrap gown and several floating asymmetries of beaded lace with irregular necklines and interesting volumes at the back that will photograph well from every angle on the red carpet. He's learning.
21 January 2007
The inroads Elie Saab has lately made into before-dark dressing came to a full stop today. Not only were all 55 looks he showed golden-hued—inspired, he said, by the sun of his native Beirut—but there wasn't a pantsuit in the lot. Even Roberto Cavalli, whose glamazon girls the Lebanese designer seems to have modeled his collection upon, proved this season that he knows the value of a no-nonsense jacket. Saab's, by contrast, were cut with stiff kimono sleeves and cinched with a wide leather belt. And as for bottoms, if cuffed shorts or showgirl panties don't suit you, well, you're out of luck.Saab's dresses came in two varieties: micro mini and long to the floor. Both gave off a seventies vibe, thanks to batwing and butterfly sleeves, asymmetric one-shoulder bodices, and deep, plunging fronts that had the models worrying their necklines. Metallic sequins were everywhere, arrayed in stripes, chevrons, and polka dots of varying sizes. A few of the simpler pieces, including a sinuous thirties gown, should make it to the red carpet. But why did he insist on showing them with his oversize python and leather bags? If Saab truly wants to grow his business, he should put the brakes on the accessories for now and focus on daywear, and when he does, he'd be wise to go a lot easier on the bling.
7 October 2006
There's a growing sense that the tables are turning at Elie Saab. For one thing, this supersuccessful Beirut designer is proving a quick study. Gone are the slit-to-the-groin sub-Cavalli looks that made him seem like such an outsider when he began showing his couture in Paris. In their place are many pretty, perfectly tasteful dresses. And his cleaned-up presentation, with its simple hair and makeup and absence of annoying doodads in the way of hats and jewelry, is starting to set an example for some far more revered Paris fixtures of how to make eveningwear look contemporary.It's also increasingly obvious that, as Western designers look ever more hopefully to the burgeoning fashion market in the Middle East, Saab already has it sewn up. As the lights went down, an inner-circle couture watcher whispered authoritatively, "Every Saudi princess is in town. And they're buying." Saab's clothes are designed for women who dress up and have plenty of parties to go to, not just for celebrity red-carpet one-night stands. Many a design studio in Paris, Milan, and New York might have cause to envy that.His pragmatic style may lack the traditional grandeur of couture, the willingness to take a highfalutin theme and run with it, but no matter. He has all the bases covered—from black or ivory guipure-lace cocktail wear to seemingly endless floor-length options, in nude with sparkle, silver and gold sequins, shot taffeta, and panne velvet. All he needs to realize now is that showing so many looks detracts from his best gowns, like the simple one-sleeved sequin wrap. Overvisibility of supply has a way of diluting perceived luxury-value, but season by season, Elie Saab is moving in the right direction.
6 July 2006
Now in his second season at the Paris ready-to-wear, Elie Saab is starting to hit his stride. Fifteen looks shorter than his spring show, his fall presentation had a stronger focus. Inspired by imperial Russia, this white, black, and red collection not only echoed that of fellow couturier Valentino, but also touched on some of the trends of the season, including puffed sleeves, velvet, and embellished fur. With his most famous client, the sultry Halle Berry having graduated to Versace and its spring ad campaign, it seems Saab has moved on, too. One of the show's most charming looks, a white Empire gown with a black velvet belt, was sweet, as opposed to sexy, the sensibility for which he's long been known.There was still room for improvement, however. Several of his gowns looked like they could have used a good steaming, and a few could have been shortened—that might've prevented the spill one model took in a ruffly black tulle number. And next season, Saab would be well advised to book bigger girls and invest more in beauty. Possibly someone told him that undone hair and makeup would make his clothes look more modern, but one glance at the polished coifs and faces in his front row and you know that undone is not what Saab's clients come to him for.
4 March 2006
You have to watch an awful lot of Elie Saab to get to the good bits. Forty-six or so dresses into the show, the best finally arrived: a dramatic black strapless gown made of circles of lace edged with tulle ruffles that was cut close to the body and broke into a swirl below the knee. It was vaguely Spanish, a tinge Edwardian, and had the slender, attenuated silhouette that also appeared at Chanel and Lacroix. Yes, it was on trend, but it would be a gorgeous dress in any season, and one that could confer mystique upon a clever woman who booked it for her Oscar appearance. The fact that few would be able to place its origin would only add to its attraction.To be fair, there was a clutch of other dresses in the nude-and-silver-sequin section that could turn heads for the right reasons. But those almost passed unnoticed amid the overlong parade of white-lace-and-crystal cocktail numbers, hobbling sheaths, shot-taffeta gowns, and Lurex goddess dresses. A few looks, including some with very peculiar stiff bust protrusions, one of which stuck out at a sharp angle 12 inches to the left, were wince-making. Many more, however, were simply near misses, spoiled by just one detail too far.Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with Saab's show that a stiff edit and a pair of scissors wouldn't improve. If he'd take a red pencil to his long, apparently randomly planned running order, and snipped off, say, the dangling ribbon and beads that interfered with a perfectly decent black lace cocktail dress, he'd be getting somewhere.
24 January 2006
Fresh off two big hits at the Emmys last month—Marcia Cross and Debra Messing both chose gowns from his July haute couture show—Elie Saab presented his ready-to-wear collection this morning in Paris for the first time. While the 73-look extravaganza needed editing, it had the makings of success; you could easily picture his celebrity clients wearing one of the white raw-silk skirtsuits to a Beverly Hills benefit lunch. And some of his black cocktail dresses—a drop-waist pleated chiffon number comes to mind—would flatter a young starlet on the premiere circuit.If bling is retreating on most other runways, though, the Beirut-based Saab seems not to have got that memo. For non-red-carpet nights, he kept the silhouette narrow and the embellishments to a minimum—as in a red floral-print chiffon column dress. But elsewhere, with Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe as inspirations, he liberally sequined hourglass gowns, embroidered pearls onto the hems of others, and trimmed a few in feathers—all flashbulb-friendly, to say the least. With his ready-to-wear operation now in its sixth year, Saab is talking about opening a store in Paris, but the place he ought to be is Southern California.
8 October 2005
Time to cut Elie Saab some slack. When he first blew into Paris from Beirut to show his custom-made collection, he was borne up on a wave of curiosity caused by Halle Berry’s red carpet appearance in one of his revealing gowns. Several seasons and a few critical drubbings later, interest ebbed, but now his clothes are showing promising signs of an upgrade in taste.Plunging, garish, slit-up-to-there dresses have been replaced by a much more subtle series of special-occasion propositions. Of course, a client would have to pick and choose, but there are some gorgeous gowns to be found among the dense thicket of options.One group—liberally bugle-beaded to resemble Art Deco antiques—looked slinkily sophisticated in a nonsleazy way. A raspberry crinkled-taffeta Empire bustier gown, tied in an offhand bow, was the first evidence that Saab can do young and simple. Another positive alternative to over-the-top evening was a silver beaded sweater worn with a swirling mushroom-color chiffon skirt—just the thing for an older woman who doesn’t want to bare all. Viewed up close in the showroom, these pieces stood on their own merits and as proof of Saab’s ability to develop and grow.
7 July 2005
The Elie Saab spring couture show was one of those rare fashion occasions on which wearing a fur coat is a genuine necessity. Ranks of Middle Eastern mother-and-daughter clients turned out thus dressed to withstand the January winds whistling through the École des Beaux-Arts, while observing Saab's models swishing by wearing very much less.A theatrical voiceover at the beginning of the show said something about a siren washed up on a beach, looking for a man. But that introduction had nothing much to do with the clothes, which began, and after 52 other looks, ended with two wedding dresses, each spectacularly draped to the torso, smothered in winking crystal, and bursting into satin flounces beneath the knee.In between, there were short and shimmying dresses with beaded fringe and many more long, flowy chiffon gowns traced with lines of crystal and sequin embroidery. Saab also added in a few bejeweled skirtsuits, something akin to Prada in Technicolor, but in essence, the message was relentlessly consistent. This collection is about occasion dressing, mostly in ocean-inspired sea green, aqua, turquoise, pale blue, anemone pink, and coral. To judge from the attendance register, it's a prime resource for the many weddings that will take place this spring in Saab's native Beirut, and beyond.Saab doesn't provide the variety—each outfit differently conceived, worked, and embroidered—that has been emerging elsewhere in Paris. His show, by the standards of this city, was repetitive, and in the cold winter light of Europe, all that color takes on a jarring look. On the other hand, unlike so many others, this was clearly not a collection wandering in wistful hopes of attracting a clientele. They were there in force, and when Saab took his bows, they stood to applaud him.
25 January 2005
“I wanted to do forties Hollywood—and late-seventies glamour,” said Elie Saab, the Beirut-based designer who is building up a red-carpet profile for himself in both Paris and Los Angeles. His instinct for the right trend, plus the fact that the couture schedule now has a hole in it where Donatella Versace used to show, made his parade of va-va-voom drama-dresses worth scrutinizing. Saab’s best looks were pale, sparkling, silver-beaded numbers constructed to hug the body at the crucial points and then trail glamorously to the floor. Together with one forties suit made entirely of gold sequins, they successfully evoked George Hurrell’s classic portraits of Jean Harlow and Joan Crawford.Though not exactly made for shrinking violets, this season's dresses showed more decorum than some of the semi-naked, multiprinted frocks Saab has unveiled before—a step in the right direction, now that fashion is in the mood for a little more dignity. (Though adding leggings—or jumpsuit devices—under some sheer dresses might have been taking modesty a little too seriously.) With his love of color, as well as silver-screen glam, Saab shows signs of increasing sophistication. He’ll never cut it as a cerebral creator, but as a custom dressmaker, he can give New Hollywood, as well as the princesses of the Arab world, just what they want.
7 July 2004
The Chambre Syndicale, the French authority that controls which designers can show during couture week, invited the Lebanese-born designer Elie Saab to show among its exclusive ranks this year. That means Saab was presenting his wares in the most competitive, heavily scrutinized fashion arena, where the trophies aren’t necessarily awarded for commercial success, but for the highest standards of handwork, combined with astonishing feats of imagination.By those measures, Elie Saab’s dresses fell short. Short by the tape measure, too. This was a one-note show about very, very abbreviated, glittery dressing that repeated itself in a mind-numbingly repetitive parade. There were small sheer dresses with a side trail and maybe a chiffon caftan on top, tight-bodiced long dresses, and bodices cut with slashed chiffon pants beneath, but nothing that could interrupt the view of maximum nakedness. There were coin belts—coin bras even—among it all, but no amount of festooning could obscure the crudeness of the spangled handwork, which was particularly jarring in a week when the embroidery experts of Paris have surpassed themselves elsewhere.A few furs suggested that maybe the designer’s muse could occasionally feel the chill, thus exposed. One floor-length cardigan, which began with mesh at the shoulders and progressed into fur at the hem, looked his nearest stab at couture-type thinking. Saab has been fortunate in having his name elevated by Halle Berry’s choice of Oscar dresses. She might have a tough time picking something from this lineup, though; with its unrelieved bareness and monotony, this collection verged more on red light than red carpet.
9 July 2003
Elie Saab stepped forward to fill the void left in couture week that is normally occupied by Donatella Versace—blondes, bods and a throbbing beat. The 39-year-old Lebanese designer, who shot from obscurity to fame overnight when Halle Berry wore one of his gowns to receive her Best Actress Oscar, staged a full-on rock-goddess show of the sort that has all but disappeared from the fashion scene.Saab’s Spring dresses are not for shrinking violets. With plunging fronts, bare backs and trailing skirts slit to reveal miles of tanned leg, these spangly chiffon confections are cut for hothouse girls who specialize in the art of under-dressing. Right down to the pounding rap music and the giant, simultaneous video projection that dominated the end of the runway, this show moved in the wake of Versace and Roberto Cavalli, but it didn’t break any new ground.
21 January 2003