Adroitly mixed with a seasonal twist, this was a floor-filling compilation of crowd-pleasing elevated womenswear standards masterminded by Elie Saab to leave his audience wanting more, more, more.
“Love Action” by the Human League kicked in irresistibly as Saab opened with a set of primary-colored fitted jersey dresses and pantsuits, most featuring high collars, whose ratio of ruffle-to-torso was highly considered in its wearable restraint—especially in this ruffle-heavy season. The high-hat upped on the remix just as an oversize bomber, blouse, and skirt in silk came out. Their black, green, rust, and blue hand-and-heart-and-eye print would provide much of the color story for the collection ahead. Two velvet tuxedos and some long, cloaked print dresses—one or two with enormously inflated shoulders—presaged a diversion into that print relief etched in sequins on lace-patched, fitted, multi-length dresses and skirts, sometimes garnished with marabou chubbies.
As we oozed into “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, a lovable sequined emerald tuxedo with a matching pleated cape stalked into the photographers’ area, followed by a nearly 10-look sequence of black—lace, lace, lace. The tempo around us picked up as those outfits began to be delineated by lines of gold and silver studs. These disrupted into allover patternings of embellishment on layered black sheer organza just as we rewound to the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” The series of evening dresses that followed was way, way beyond waitress-in-a-cocktail-bar status. Is it love that you’re after, wondered Rose Rose at the finale, or just a good time? Both were available at Elie Saab this afternoon.
