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.
