From season to season Elie Saab presents his collections in Paris, drawing inspiration from luxury palaces, movie divas and favorite artist’s paintings. From season to season on the podium we expect wardrobe variations of a modernized Disney princess that switched castle halls with the high society parties. Tens of meters of airy tulle, delicate lace, shiny satin and blinding the eyes with their abundance hand-made embroidery and sequins. Evening floor length with dresses with daring necklines and ankle length ones with side slits exposing the hip of the nymphs exactly to the level above which the princess could be mistakenly taken for someone else. We must admit: with all the candor, the Lebanese designer’s garments never pass the line behind which elegance ends and vulgarity begins.
New York of the middle of XXth century – a City-legend, defying the starry sky with myriads of lights of skyscrapers, the Central Park with plants and birds, rigorous geometry of its avenues – was put into the base of the new fall-winter haute couture collection of Monsieur Saab. The first looks of the collection reflected the spirit of the American Dream’s capital: incredibly successful are decorative motifs of glowing in the night background windows of Imperial State Building and the structural cut of the sets: the opening velvet skirt with a deep side slit (of course), a waist long neckline with an asymmetric basque on a jacket and a pants suit, rather strict if we ignore a massive necklace and a large embroidery on the belt. Couturier revives the glamor of the fifties, making an unusual for him accent on hips.
Starting from the eighth look we find ourselves in the realm of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. But here these are rather birds of happiness, flattering in flocks down the hem of the dresses, or squatting in a large brooch on a shoulder or a belt. Birds’ overture develops in subtle colors of feathers, with which are richly embroidered dresses towards the end of the collection: its apogee feather flowers of contrasting shades achieve in the form of an evening floor length dress, which precedes the final bride walk.
Several looks presented in the “mother-daughter” pair – a woman’s dress repeated to detail in a mini-version for a little girl – could not fail to move the audience, softening the most critically-minded hearts (by the way, hearts also appeared as an applique on a couple of garments).
Photo credits: Elie Saab