Elie Saab couture fall 2011

• step one: find a shit load of tulle
• step two: throw tulle on top of tall skinny woman and tie tightly at the waist
• step three: cover everything with any means of sparkle; glitter, sequins, angel tears - as long as it sparkles, i dont care what it is.
• step four: repeat operation 40 times.

and VOILA you have created every Elie Saab haute couture collection in the history of the world.



Lebanese designer Elie Saab is a creature of routine, living strictly by the mantra "if it ain't broke, just keep throwing glitter on it." His creations are bound tightly by the same signature of fairy-tale dresses which has become a safe commercial selling point for his clientèle of red-carpet a-listers and middle-eastern women. He may not be one for gaga-esque eccentricity but when it looks this good, your point is.....?

If these dresses made a sound, they would twinkle. Adorned with intricate beading and embellished from head to toe with crystals, the collection mixed the traditions of couture craft with a modern wearable subtlety.  "yeah, yeah, yeah, seen it all before.." - but in fact, these dresses unveiled an airy lightness that has been bogged down by somewhat oppressive draping throughout last season.

Moving with a feather-light effervescence, the dresses billowed very quietly with each step. Seemingly sheer beneath a coat of iridescent beading, the fabric lived instinctively upon the model's body like an ethereal second skin. Colours mainly travelling from nude to icy pastels, with the exception of a few midnight blues, eclipsed a multiplicity of skirt lengths and shapes. Perhaps inspired by Kate Middleton's wedding dress, laced sleeves offered a sense of delicacy that was dramatically refreshed by bare-backs and undressing thigh slits.

Although built with a contemporary idiosyncrasy, the silhouette explored both; the vintage glamour of a draped bustier and a child-like fragility evoked by virginal necklines and an undefiled delicacy.

My mind often struggles against the boring interchangeable girlishness of Elie Saab collections but i cant help but be stupefied by the sparkle. I don't quite know what he's up to in that little Lebanese atelier workshop but i have a sneaking suspicion he may be bathing the tulle in some sort of hypnotising anaesthetic that benumbs women into a state of glitter induced bewilderment.....