In one of her interviews, the priestess of fashion journalism and a true lady Suzy Menkes to answer a question, what is able to draw her attention in a new collection of a designer which she comes to review for a thirty-third season, said something like this: “All the designers sooner or later begin to repeat themselves. This is absolutely normal of course, because designers are human too. Therefore, analyzing a collection, I pay attention to what the designer has improved compared to the past seasons, if there are new interesting details, refreshing his style”. Those were the words of Suzy, such precise and professional, that came to my mind during the Elie Saab haute couture spring-summer 2012 presentation. Saab’s style has long become in a way a classics of the genre. With a half-glance, with a rustle of lace skirts, with a sound of steps of a model wearing a dress with 25 pounds of embroidery, you would immediately recognize his signature. But each time, laces become thinner, silhouettes – slenderer and even the white – whiter. And it is somehow awkward to write about the dress, that “it is embroidered with sequins.” Because we all see that it is woven of rose petals and young willow-twigs in which a cloud got entangled, sprinkling it with morning dew.

Elie Saab creates dresses for princesses. And his every show opens to us, mere mortals, a door to a fairy tale – a magical world populated by ephemeral elves and arrogant fairies. Saab does his best to convey tenderness. Whatever is mentioned in press releases about strong, independent and modern, the fragile beauty is like a chrysalid, which is about to emerge from her cocoon and as nothing else attracts by its purity and transiency of a beautiful unique moment.

Photo credits: Elie Saab and Anna Marion (Haute Couture News, Russian Couture News)