Elie Saab turned to Diana Vreeland for his pre-fall collection, but not just as a muse bringing zebra prints and opulent floral touches, he was quick to say.
The designer also wanted to channel the simple freshness that she and her successors brought to fashion, which he described as a carefully considered balance between haute couture and basics.
He went on to say that he also felt quite American in his approach. “I don’t tell many stories; “I’m going straight to the point,” he stated.
Saab’s point is always to offer a lot to its wealthy clientele, here dipping into the ’70s for simple but flattering shapes.
This time, the options included asymmetrical tops, peplum jackets, fitted jumpsuits, midi dresses galore, and a pleated shirt and pants combo that she anointed as the “Elie Saab pajamas.”
Although intended to offer a wealth of options for daywear, the collection leaned into Saab’s couture glamor with its materials.
The tweed suits were sprinkled with tiny sequins, the satin given a leather-like finishing treatment and laser cut to look like eyelet embroidery. Elsewhere, the wave pattern on a sports jacket and shorts turned out to be a gradient of fil coupe embroidery.
And it’s not just Vreeland’s style that Saab has been adopting. “It’s not about the dress you wear, but the life you lead in that dress,” she once said. With a new perfume and some 15 hotel projects, including recently announced branded residences in Saudi Arabia, Saab seems determined to offer his client everything he is looking for, and then some.
