Elie Saab Designer Analysis
ELIE SAAB
Lebanese designer Elie Saab has long been a leading name in haute couture in the Middle East, where his romantic, crystal-encrusted gowns attracted princesses to his Beirut atelier, opened in 1982 when he was just 18 years old. His ready-to-wear line, which launched in 1998 in Milan, heralds the same feminine aesthetic as his couture dresses, with brightly colored silks, chiffons, pearl beading, and embroidered lace. With their Middle Eastern detailing and European sensibility, Saab gowns are also at home on the Hollywood red carpet. Halle Berry famously wore one of Saab’s designs to pick up her Academy Award for Monster Ball in 2002. Many other celebrities have been seen wearing his designs including Rachel McAdams, Mila Kunis, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, and many more. Born in 1964 in Lebanon, Elie Saab is a self-taught fashion designer. His interest in dressmaking started at the young age of nine. Saab spent much of his free time cutting patterns and drawing sketches for his sisters, using his mother’s tablecloths and curtains. The neighbors soon got wind of what he was up to, and by the time he was a teenager he already had a small network of loyal clients. Looking back, Saab says, “I was born with this passion of creating and making dresses and was always surrounded by beautiful women, from sisters to neighbors, so the desire to dress them and make them look elegant was my constant inspiration.” In 1981 he moved to Paris to study fashion, but ended up returning in 1982. That year, at just 18-years-old, Elie Saab opened his Couture Atelier in Beirut, managing over a dozen
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employees, he was already a master in the art of dressmaking. In 1997 Saab was the first nonItalian designer to become a member of the Italian Camera Nazionale della Moda, and in 1997, showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome. In 1998, he started ready-to-wear in Milan, and in the same year, he held a fashion show in Monaco which was attended by Princess
Lebanese designer Elie Saab has long been a leading name in haute couture in the Middle East, where his romantic, crystal-encrusted gowns attracted princesses to his Beirut atelier, opened in 1982 when he was just 18 years old. His ready-to-wear line, which launched in 1998 in Milan, heralds the same feminine aesthetic as his couture dresses, with brightly colored silks, chiffons, pearl beading, and embroidered lace. With their Middle Eastern detailing and European sensibility, Saab gowns are also at home on the Hollywood red carpet. Halle Berry famously wore one of Saab’s designs to pick up her Academy Award for Monster Ball in 2002. Many other celebrities have been seen wearing his designs including Rachel McAdams, Mila Kunis, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna, and many more. Born in 1964 in Lebanon, Elie Saab is a self-taught fashion designer. His interest in dressmaking started at the young age of nine. Saab spent much of his free time cutting patterns and drawing sketches for his sisters, using his mother’s tablecloths and curtains. The neighbors soon got wind of what he was up to, and by the time he was a teenager he already had a small network of loyal clients. Looking back, Saab says, “I was born with this passion of creating and making dresses and was always surrounded by beautiful women, from sisters to neighbors, so the desire to dress them and make them look elegant was my constant inspiration.” In 1981 he moved to Paris to study fashion, but ended up returning in 1982. That year, at just 18-years-old, Elie Saab opened his Couture Atelier in Beirut, managing over a dozen
2
employees, he was already a master in the art of dressmaking. In 1997 Saab was the first nonItalian designer to become a member of the Italian Camera Nazionale della Moda, and in 1997, showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome. In 1998, he started ready-to-wear in Milan, and in the same year, he held a fashion show in Monaco which was attended by Princess