Elie Saab (Arabic: ايلي صعب) (born 4 July 1964) is a Lebanon-based fashion designer. He started his business in the early 1980s and specialised in bridal couture (expensive fabrics, lace, gemstones, Swarovski crystals, pearls, detailed embroidery, etc.).[1]
His main workshop is in Lebanon, with additional workshops in Milan and Paris.[2] As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques.[3]
Elie Saab is the eldest son, of five children, born in Beirut, to a Maronite Catholic[7] wood merchant in Damour, a southern coastal suburb in Beirut, Lebanon.[8]
Saab began sewing as a child. At the age of eight, his attention had turned to fashion. With his sisters serving as models, he would cut patterns out of newspaper and search his mother's closet for materials.[9]
Career
The logo of Elie Saab's fashion house.
Early years in fashion
In 1981, Saab moved to Paris to study fashion, dropping out to return to Beirut. In 1982, when he was 18 years old, he worked with a team of 15 employees. At first his atelier specialized in bridal couture, making wedding dresses and gowns using expensive fabrics, lace, detailed embroidery, pearls, crystals and silk threads.[1] In Beirut his reputation grew from dressing women in his neighborhood, and was soon enhanced by high society women sporting his designs.[10]
In 1997, Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion,[11][12] and in 1997 he showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome.[13]
In 1998, he started his ready-to-wear line in Milan, as well as an accessories line. During the same year, Saab held a fashion show in Monaco, with Princess Stéphanie of Monaco in attendance.[14]
In 1999, one of his dresses thickly embroidered with emeralds and diamonds was reportedly sold for $2.4 million.[15]
In 2003, he teamed up with Pronovias to create a bridal line, Elie by Elie Saab.[18]
The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture inducted him as a membre correspondant in 2006.[3] His first ready-to-wear collection in Paris was the Spring-Summer 2006 collection.[citation needed]
The Duchess of Cambridge wore an Elie Saab gown while attending Royal Ascot in 2019. This was the first time one of Saab's gowns was worn by a British royal.[24]
Recent dresses and collaborations
In 2012, he worked with the Lebanese American University and London College of Fashion to launch a bachelor's degree in fashion design.[3] As of 2013, the brand had boutiques located in Beirut, Dubai, Doha, Paris, London, Geneva, Hong Kong, Moscow, New York City, and Mexico, with 100 retail outlets total.[1] Saab's son, Elie Saab Jr, became brand director in 2013.[3]
Saab appeared as a judge on Project Runway: Middle East in 2016.[3] Between 2015 and 2017, the Elie Saab company opened a second Paris boutique and a new location in London's Mayfair, and in Manhattan.[3] The Manhattan store that opened in October 2016 was his first in the country.[25] As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques.[3] Also that month, the Elie Saab company opened a new Madison Avenue store.[26]
Elie Saab X Emaar
The Lebanese fashion designer and the real estate development company Emaar reveal luxurious Elie Saab at Emaar Beachfront property in Dubai. The luxurious gated island property, Grand Bleu Tower at Emaar Beachfront, will include one, two and three-bedroom apartments as well as four-bedroom penthouses with interiors by Elie Saab. The residential tower boasts views of the Arabian Sea, The Palm and Dubai Marina.[27]
Beirut explosion, 4 August 2020
Saab's main office and headquarters were left badly damaged by the explosion, his home nearby was completely destroyed.[28] Despite this, the designer and his team planned to get back to work in order to finish the collection for the September show.[28]
In April 2021, Elie Saab launched an initiative that consists in donating a portion of sales to UNICEF's "Integrated Education and Well-Being for Vulnerable Girls in Lebanon Program."[29]
Saab and his wife Claudine live with their family in Lebanon, and together have three sons.[25]
Controversies
In January 2018, Saab received backlash on social media after his label's Instagram account posted a picture of Israeli actress Gal Gadot wearing one of his dresses to the National Board of Review awards with the caption "A flawless Gal Gadot in Elie Saab Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2018 at the national board of review annual gala in New York". The post was later deleted.[69]
^Aktar, Alev (28 March 2002). "It's the dress for success - Elie Saab goes from obscurity to fashion's front row". New York Daily News. ProQuest305673678.
