Elie Saab makes a joyous return to the runway after two-year hiatus

After a two-year hiatus caused by the Beirut port blast and Covid-19, Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab returned to the runway in Paris last night with a vibrant spring/ summer 22 couture show inspired by the Mediterranean.

Featuring a whopping fifty-five show-stopping looks in a technicolour spectrum of floor-skimming, full-skirted silhouettes, Saab’s comeback brought with it the opulence and optimism of couture at its heady best.

Saab’s Beirut offices and home were both badly damaged in the explosion of August 2020, but the 57-year-old designer, who founded his namesake label in 1982 at the height of the country’s 1975-1990 civil war, is resilient. “I felt my clients are looking for release, they want things that are flashy, with colours, lively things — I see that this period has affected a lot of people,” Saab said.

With a firm focus on joy, Saab’s SS22 collection thus bloomed with sea, sun and bougainvillea-hued satin, taffeta and tulle.

The show opened with a full feather-skirted fuchsia gown and closed with an outlandishly glamorous feathered shimmering bridal look complete with matching veil and vast train of the kind Saab’s Middle Eastern clients clamour for.