Elie Saab – The Dark Side Of Giselle...Fashionweekly...On Fow24news.com

The designer toned down the sparkle and used the classic ballet to inspire a romantic collection.The colour purple, in all its lush richness, spread over the Elie Saab collection, challenging the dominance of black – and also overriding the high wattage sparkle that has previously been synonymous with the designer....
This season, the haunting story of the classic ballet Giselle was the inspiration – and it tilted the designer towards the darkly romantic. This toning down – but still with intense workmanship – was a good fit with the current fashion temperament.

Essentially a ghost story, the tale of the death from a broken heart of the peasant Giselle and her restitution by the Wilis, the spirits of virgin girls, may not be the stuff that Oscar dreams are made of. But Saab handled delicately this move from major to minor key.

The romantic tulle dresses, laced with velvet, rather than swamped in crystal, accorded well with the new fashion mood for autumn/winter 2017. Discretion is the current spirit and the way Saab used his dense decoration, including lily appliqués and embroideries as a constant theme, gave a quiet richness to dresses short and long. In keeping with the atmosphere, he added capes to cloak the body.

The use of whisper thin lace – say, as the chest and shoulders of a black cocktail dress – drew a pretty veil over the brash or deliberately sexy. Sensuality was the message.

Maybe Elie Saab's journey from his native Lebanon, via Paris, to the wider world has encouraged this toned-down collection. The designer will open a store on New York's Madison Avenue this month and the almost glitter-free collection seems like a good match with the Manhattan aesthetic.

The one thing that appeared unchanged among the tailored purple coat, the black leather jacket punched with a silver lily pattern or an LBD with its neat waist and flirty skirt, is the workmanship. Everything the designer put forth, especially the lace flowing into chiffon, looked like the high fashion that Elie Saab presents in Paris during the haute couture season.

There was just a hint of toughness among the lush furs, feathers and furbelows. For the story of Giselle, restored to life by the Wilis, who, scorned by men, dedicated themselves to supporting other women, resonates in a subliminal way with women's lives in our time.