Elie Saab

Introduction

Fashion is one of the main factors which influence the culture change and lifestyle in the modern world. For many decades, different fashion designers have produced different fashion designs which have greatly influenced the way of life of most people all over the world. It is therefore necessary to acknowledge the works of fashion designers. For instance Elie Saab, has been a fashion a designer for more than a decade, and his works have greatly impacted the world. This is so owing to the fact that fashion represents beautiful ideas of a designer being transformed into the clothes, bags, as well as jewellery. For that reason, this paper will focus on Elsie Saab, whereby it will provide a brief historic timeline of the designer and provide critical analysis of cultural events related to the designer.

Historic Timeline

 As a Lebanese fashion designer, Saab became the first Arab to be acknowledged to the fashion industry’s leading body. Similarly he has participated in a numerous fashion invents, most of which he has emerged victorious due to the uniqueness of the types of designs which he presents. Saab’s became successful from time to time, and would gradually grow from one level to another from the moment he started working as a fashion designer. He opened his first atelier in Beirut at the age of 18 years, and would later on present his first collection to a group of women (Saab, n.d). Likewise, he became the only non-Italian designer to take part in Camera Nazionale della Moda. His first collection was presented in Rome which was outside his country of origin Lebanon. Later on, he went ahead and opened a fashion shop in Milan commonly known as Ready-to-wear, and made a fashion show which was graced by the Princes of Monaco Princess Stephanie.

In 1999, the Queen of Jordan, Queen Rania chose to wear her coronation from Saab’s numerous designs. This basically depicted the quality and uniqueness of the designer, a move which made the Queen to be attracted to his designs. This move led to the invitation of Saab to the Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture to showcase his designs in Paris where he had initially presented four collections in a single year. Six years later, he became a conforming member. Nonetheless, Saab’s breakthrough came after Halle Berry wore the burgundy gown, which was one of Saab’s designs, for the Oscar ceremony. This led to the recognition of Saab to other parts of the world. Afterwards, Saab went ahead and launched a ready-to-wear spring-summer collection in Paris, making Paris the home for his eternal ready-to-wear runway, and also set a leading boutique at the centre of Le Triangle D’or (Saab, n.d). At this point, Saab had dressed a total of 102 celebrities for popular world-wide events and installed a leading store in Dubai. Saab also ventured into other fields of design, and in the year 2011, he launched his fragrance “Le Parfum” which made history by becoming the bestselling perfume in more than 15 countries all over the world (Saab, n.d). In the year 2012 he opened a number of stores in different parts of the world, which included, Asia, Geneva, as well as Switzerland.

Critical Analysis of Cultural Events/Bands Related to the Designer

This section will basically focus on Saab’s atelier and the designer perfume Le Perfum.

Elie Saab’s was a well-known designer years before he launched his first perfume, which to many was a good idea. The perfume became successful, owing to the fact that it became appealing to the eyes of the consumer. In a bid to understand how the perfume became appealing to the eyes of the buyer, it is necessary to critically analyse the packaging design of the perfume, colour, and scent of the perfume. Saab’s has a unique strategy of designing things, which is through the interpretation of light. Most of his works are based on interpreting the light, which basically makes his brands to glow, and become appealing to the buyer. In this case, the flowery solar woody perfume was created as an ‘ode to light’ which represents armfuls of orange blossom. The Ode to light represents Saab’s Mediterranean childhood, thus the design was based on his childhood events.

The design of the glass that holds the glass is also unique, in the sense that it resembles diamond, which basically gives a person illusion that whatever is inside the glass is more than just a simple perfumer. Similarly, the curves on the glass make it more feminine, in the sense that it resembles a beautiful young lady who is relaxed. In addition, the glass is covered by a top which also represents a diamond. The colour of the perfume is also significant, in the sense that each particular type of perfume has its own colour, with pink being the dominant colour. Most women prefer bright colours and pink is one of them, likewise, colour pin is associated with beauty and feminism, which essentially creates a good impression of the perfume once a person sees it. Finally, the fragrance itself is on another level, since it is neither strong, neither is it weak. Once the bottle is opened, a nice and appealing scent comes out of which makes one to fall in love with the perfume. For instance, le parfum royal has a scent which is similar to that of the royal family (Saab, n.d). In other words, the smell of the perfume is appealing, in the sense that it makes one to create an impression of the royal family after opening the bottle. On the other hand, the smell of the perfume is relaxed, in that one can smell the nice smell from the perfume without being choked. Even though the colour of the perfume itself is pink, the smell of the perfume is more masculine hence making it preferable as compared to other perfumes.

On the other hand, Saab focuses on making his clients to not only smell nice, but to also walk down the memory lane once they smell the perfume. For example, when one listens to a song which he or she used to listen while young, there are some memories which tend to cloud the mind. Saab’s perfumes also have a tendency of making one to try and link the smell of the perfume to a similar fragrance, which basically makes the person to walk the memory lane. The perfume is basically powerful because it enters the mind, making one to think about the smell, in order to link that scent with a similar scent. In so doing, Saab has been able to make his brand attractive, hence becoming the bestselling perfume.

When it comes to dresses, Saab is not left behind, with his exceptional designs, he has been able to outperform renowned fashion designer to become one of the best fashion designers. Recently, Saab created a unique gown for her daughter in law, which she wore at her wedding. The design of the gown did not only focus on fashion and beauty, but it also focused on customary laws, which had to be followed. Hence, while designing the dress Saab made sure some parts of the body such as breasts were not exposed. The first one was 14-foot-train and lavish sparkling embroidery Haute Couture ballgown (Gardner, n.d). Moreover, the gown also featured a high neckline which depicted respected for ceremony setting according to the traditions of Lebanon. The second was a glittering gold strapless ballgown with a corseted bodice which represented the designer’s latest Haute Couture Autumn Winter 2019-2020. It was companied with corresponding veil that was spotted with an astonishing 100,000 glitters. The last one was a runway piece which exposed a huge part of the bride’s body since she was walking on the runway.

Each of the three types of dressing code were based on their functions. The designer is not only focused on making dresses which standout, but in providing quality dresses which match which the requirements of the event. For instance, in the last dress, the design did not use a lot of material, neither did he use lot of glitters. This was the final moment of the wedding, hence it was necessary to make a simple attire which could match action being taken by the bride. At this moment, the bride was walking on the runway, thus it was necessary to wear a dress which exposed a huge part of her body, in order to make her look sexy as she walked on the runway (Gardner, n.d). On the other hand, the first gown featured a high neckline which necessary for the part of the event, hence the Saab was able to incorporate the law into the design, and thus he did not go against any regulations while trying to impress the bride. Furthermore, this depicts how creative Saab is, in the sense that he is not limited of ideas and nothing can limit him from making any dress for a specific event. Lastly, in the first dress, Saab was able to visualize ideas into finished products, for the reason that the designer creates designs based on the task ahead, and cannot be limited by factors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Elie Saab is more than just a designer due to the quality of work that he presents. The designers approach to the design is unique, similarly, the designer incorporates different aspects into his designs, such as light. The perfume is based on the aspect of light, which essential leads to the design of the glass bottle that holds the perfume. The bottle is attractive and beautiful, which basically attracts most people towards the perfume. On the contrary, the designer’s ideas are not only fixed on clothes, but on other fields too, since Saab does nothing but the best. His success is known worldwide, since he has been able to dress a number of celebrities. In addition his perfume is also among the bestselling perfumes all over the world.

Work Cited

Saab, Elie. Brand Story: Fashion Gear. (N.d). retrieved from: http://fashiongear.fibre2fashion.com/brand-story/eliesaab/history.asp

Gardner, Abby. Elie Saab Designed the Mosgt Beautiful Wedding Dress for His Daughter-in-Law: Glamour. (2019). Retrieved from: https://www.glamour.com/story/elie-saab-designed-the-most-beautiful-wedding-dresses-for-his-daughter-in-law

Saab, Elie. Le Parfum Rose Couture: The Perfume Society. (n.d). Retrieved from: https://perfumesociety.org/fred-perfume/9947/