With a collection called “Golden Summer Nights of ’71,” Elie Saab revisited one of his favorite periods, the golden era of the “Milos to Marrakech” jet set.
“I really tried to do a relaxed collection,” the designer offered backstage before the show. “We wanted to present couture in a different way. I wanted it to speak to all sorts of women. And I wanted it to be… cool.” The show notes took it one step further, describing this as “high couture with a hedonistic soul.”
For this outing, the designer switched up his venue and format, opting for the massive, soaring volumes of the Theatre de Chaillot, a monument unveiled in 1937. A live performance by Thomas Verovski and the Scoring Orchestra featured a bespoke soundtrack that took inspiration from that last, pre-war golden era, yet its original compositions were informed by psychedelia, folk, rock and electric.
Counterintuitive as it seems, many of these looks, as intricately embroidered and embellished as they were, did channel breeziness, amped up occasionally by a cropped gilet trimmed with fur. From a distance, and even from a front-row perch, they somehow managed to inject a sense of ease into the grandest of major occasion wear.
One such example opened the show: the intensively beaded and embroidered crop top that was paired with a tawny fawn print skirt turned out to be backless, as if slipped on offhandedly. As the show progressed, Saab flexed an experimental attitude to embroidery, for example coaxing woven textures into abstracted motifs that seemed to melt into their invisible tulle base. The designer wielded thin strips of leather as if it were chiffon, working them into beaded macramé-like embellishments on a striking chocolate-colored gilet worn over a matching gown. Shimmying tiers of fine silver fringe on a caped slip dress evoked zebra stripes or seemed to dissolve into rivulets cascading from an organic weave. One gown fully embroidered with spaghetti-thin strands of silver, gold or diamanté looked light but, as the designer allowed, wearing it called for a seriously solid set of shoulders.
Next season will be defined by the tank top-and-skirt silhouette, and here Saab offered a couple of spins on that idea, in beaded black over a latticed skirt made from elaborately pleated silk chiffon anchored by clusters of crystals (a new technique for him) or in a woven beige iteration paired with a long skirt made of stylized feathers in subtle shades of beige, sandy pink or seafoam green chiffon, some dew-dropped with crystals. “It’s the mix that together creates a feeling of nonchalance,” the designer said. For awards season, he incorporated some new techniques to his red carpet-read looks, notably via gradient gold and silver, some with distinct Art Deco leanings—a nod to today’s venue, as well as Saab’s other favorite era.
