Naharnet

Elie Saab Sticks Winning Formula for Fall Collection

Elie Saab's detractors complain the Lebanese red carpet favorite's collections are always the same, but frankly, if it's not broke, why fix it?

Saab has the magic formula that has won him legions of fans among world's beautiful people down pat. In addition to his high-drama red carpet gowns covered with flashbulb-friendly sequins, he churns out flattering, glamorous daywear that moves seamless from day to night.

Wednesday's show, which capped Paris' nine-day-long ready-to-wear marathon, included plenty of formfitting sheath dresses with sharp square shoulders and long, lean, sequin-covered gowns with rounded trains in black, taupe, mauve and brick red.

Granted, Saab didn't reinvent the wheel with Wednesday's fall-winter 2011-12 collection, but then again, with a mile-long client roster that includes A-list actresses, princesses and stylish women the world over, why on earth would he?

"I already picked out about six pieces that I absolutely want," said Victoria Yaeger Sawyer, a San Francisco lawyer with a passion for fashion. "As a working woman who has to go from day to cocktail, the collection was great. For my needs, it's the best show I've seen all week."

Perhaps it was because it was the last show after a month of collections that began in New York, moved to London and then Milan before debuting in Paris at the start of the month, but the models appeared to be staging some kind of spontaneous strike: Several of them walked only half the runway, posing and turning around and a hundred yards (meters) from the photographers' pit. Most of the girls ignored the photographers' boos and hisses, but in a rare instance of on-catwalk spontaneity, one of the models poised to turn back early changed her mind, shot the photographers a radiant smile and walked the whole runway.

Source: Agence France Presse


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/3912