Elie Saab didn’t travel to Paris this season, but he delivered a beautiful bouquet of a couture collection as an offering of hope and sign of his commitment to the métier. “We try to be very positive for the coming days,” said the designer on a call.
An eternal optimist, Saab sees the world’s emergence from lockdown as a transition from darkness into the light, and likens this reawakening to blossoming. This plays out literally, as the lineup opens with black looks and gradually lightens, finishing with pale pastels; his theme, of course, is flowers.
Flowers are a symbol of femininity. Saab is not the first, and won’t be the last, to make a connection between the delicacy of couture and garden treasures: Christian Dior envisioned his Corolle line of 1947 being worn by “femmes fleurs.” Many of the bouffant gowns in Saab’s collection nod to the golden age of couture instigated by Dior, with skirts petaling out from small, stemlike waists tied neatly with bow belts.
The designer included full-on Disney princess versions of this silhouette (as in the opening look in which “petals” are formed by feathers). More modern, and unexpected, are Saab’s subtle deconstructions of this classic look. These he achieved by applying embellishments to the lightest of materials so that they seemed to hover on the fabric, like a butterfly might land on a leaf. In some cases the semitransparency also revealed the inner workings of the dress in the form of tulle panniers.
The looks that captured Saab’s theme best are the ones that felt the lightest. Next to tulle, organza, and chiffon, his taffeta looks stiff and formal; two-tone lacks subtlety. Not so two ivory monotone looks with tone-on-tone embellishment: a pantsuit with a decorated jacket and train; and a one-sleeve column gown with a sheer cut-out boasting “floating” embroideries. The refreshingly unstructured look of an asymmetric black lace number with a gathered top anchored by corsages approaches the delicacy of a fresh-cut flower. “I love life,” exclaimed Saab. His collection pulses with it.