Forget being a Bond girl. The woman Elie Saab designs for takes after 007 agent Nomi or Dr. Madeleine Swann, rather than after any femme fatale. “Many women nowadays have this spirit: They know who they are, what they want and why they’re here,” said the couturier at a preview of his resort collection.
At the same time, Saab also felt that women’s expectations had changed in the wake of the pandemic, balancing a desire to “be beautiful, chic, but also relaxed and cool,” which led him to imagine these long and lean looks with flat shoes or espadrilles, he continued.
Tying these two ideas together was his proclivities for the ’70s, a decade that Saab considers the most seminal in a woman’s style for its enduring connection to growing freedoms and flattering silhouettes.
Cue a collection looking to address multiple facets of her daily activities through elevated mix-and-match options, ranging from knit crop tops paired with high-waisted bottoms to puffy-sleeved jumpsuits and slinky maxidresses with graphic metal adornments.
The black-and-white palette was livened up by a bracing dose of lime, a color he described as refreshing like a glass of Champagne and a modern, flattering color for most skin tones. Dégradé effects likewise gave classic patterns like houndstooth or stripes a twist.
The brand’s monogram, still somewhat of a novelty, was worked in a variety of ways, from the allover print on a navy-to-lime pleated dress with a pussy bow neckline, to more subtle interpretations as an embossed detail on a pocket or breezy guipure lace.
If glamorous fare is par for the course here, of-the-moment options like a long hooded parka and a blouson overlaid with tone-on-tone lace hit the right note between streetwise and statement. A sure sign that whoever and wherever his well-client is, Saab knows what she wants as well as she does.
