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 flowing robe de soir in 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.
