Paris Haute Couture Week: Elie Saab

By Emily Borrett.

Chanel’s show in Paris yesterday was always going to be a hard act to follow, but Lebanese designer Elie Saab dove right in and showed his credentials with an array of gowns in the beautiful Saab style that we’ve come to love. Favoured by red-carpet young guns such as Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, we already knew that the show was going to be a glamorous affair.

In the past Elie Saab has created very flirty, youthful dresses for young starlets, with hemlines falling way above the knee in shimmering tones of peach, beige and pink. However, it seems that the brand has grown up, as the majority of its’ collection was comprised on full-on, look-at-me superstar gowns. There were the same classic nude tones that Saab has favoured for a while in there, but we also saw vibrant Valentino reds, olive-greens and barely-there silvers which were breathtaking in swathes of chiffon and lace. And – gasp – black! We loved Saab’s final few black gowns which were endlessly dramatic and sexy, with slitted skirts to show off amazing pins and sweetheart necklines. Absolutely Jessica Rabbit-worthy.

As we saw before in Chanel’s couture show, ruffles and volume were the adornment du jour. We could have died for the rose-hued clusters of fabric that were smattered amongst hemlines and necklines – heartbreakingly feminine and pretty.

More conventional than other shows this week, the collection may not have got people talking in the same way that Givenchy’s cyber-kimonos or Chanel’s frothy babydoll shapes probably have, but Saab created yet another stellar collection of gowns which we expect to see on the red carpet in the very near future. And if it’s good enough for Hollywood’s elite, it’s sure as hell good enough for us.

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