For the past few days, Paris has been cold and gray, with intermittent bouts of rain. And with reports of the coronavirus continuing to spread globally and Parisians wary of its possible arrival here, every sniffle is viewed with suspicion, every cough greeted with horror. There is not a lot of joie de vivre.
So when Elie Saab opened his fall show at the Palais de Tokyo with a series of muted black-and-white looks, some including the return of the pussy bow, one had to wonder whether the Lebanese designer was deliberately reflecting the current mood, replacing his usual irrepressible takes on luxurious dressing with something more somber. But as quickly became clear, there is nothing somber about an Elie Saab show.
The black-and-white theme continued—interrupted briefly by a belted coat in bright scarlet—but the looks became more elaborate, with sumptuous gold detailing making one black dress coat shimmer as it passed by. (It was paired with over-the-knee boots in the same pattern.) More gold detailing accented a black velvet dress slit all the way to the upper thigh and a dramatically cut pantsuit that gave a glimpse of a lacy see-through blouse.
Color began to assert itself as the show progressed. Short, flouncy dresses in emerald green and deep purple were paired with long trains, and scarlet reappeared in the form of a striking high-neck translucent gown that was slightly reminiscent of the vintage Saab dress that Jane Fonda wore to this year’s Oscars.
And the pussy bow returned—on a girlish black-and-white knee-length dress, on a black blouse paired with a bubble-like polka-dotted dress, and on another polka-dotted dress with a white frilly bib.
Afterward, Saab said he was influenced by Andalusia, a look he debuted at his pre-fall collection in January and continued to explore here, with ruffles and lace and sweeping tulle skirts that very much projected the gorgeous fantasy of the Elie Saab world.
But just as the show ended and the crowd exited onto the street, it started to rain again. Back to reality.
