Elie Saab is an eveningwear specialist with an established formula for often monochromatic, unapologetically romantic gowns studded with embellishment that’s as intricate as his ambition is straightforward: Saab wants to make his customers happy. Many of these customers—literally, hundreds of them—were at his show today, as usual accounting for one enormous big-haired and super-spritzed bank of seating at his Tuileries venue. What they saw, though, seemed subtly different from the designer’s tried-and-tested narrative.
“It’s not different,” demurred the man himself backstage afterward. “It’s the same. But the mix is different.”
In short, this meant the insertion of more separates and versatile day-to-night pieces before the introduction of Saab’s nocturnal standards. For proof, inspect the first looks on two of his big-name castings. Both Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner wore mid-length dresses; Hadid’s was tiered in blue lace, Jenner’s black and with an empire line. Over these, they wore bomber jackets—Hadid’s in rich candy-striped gazar, Jenner’s in a more softly toned floral embroidery. Although he is not entirely new to the bomber, to put both of these bound-to-be-Insta’d models in the jacket sent a message; this was Saab-meets-street. To underline that, there was a distinctly un-Saab black-flashed white tracksuit worn with flat sandals and Jenner’s floral bomber—which acted as a radical foil to the more conventional pussy-bowed white jacket and wide pants in broderie anglaise that had preceded it. Leather mini suits with small floral cutouts; a soft silk armless striped jacket; a cute black lace bomber; and a crystal-spattered, floral-patched, halter-neck white minidress (almost tennis-like in its silhouette) were a few other examples of the new elements in Saab’s mix. It made for a pleasantly broadened watching experience. But he was careful to emphasize, however, that he wasn’t about to throw the baby out with the bathwater: He makes a mean macramé lace gown—simultaneously wistful and willful of aspect—and there were plenty here. The closer to the finale, the denser the eveningwear became, alive with fin, sparkle, ripple, and train. By the time his stars reappeared—Jenner in a deep-V crystal and lace jumpsuit with two trails of sheer black silk that ran from shoulder to ankle and whipped in the air as she walked, and Hadid in a complicatedly luxe-goth black open-front dress of lace and silk panels—normal service had resumed. “I’ve just met many of my clients now and everybody is happy,” reported Saab. And if they’re happy, he’s happy.
