Elie Saab
Elie Saab (Arabic: ايلي صعب) (born 4 July 1964) is a Lebanese fashion designer.
Elie Saab
His main workshop is in Lebanon, with additional workshops in Milan and Paris.[1] He started his business in the early 1980s and specialised in bridal couture (expensive fabrics, lace, gemstones, Swarovski crystals, pearls, detailed embroidery, etc.).[2]
He is the first Lebanese to be admitted to the fashion industry's governing body, Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.[3] Saab appeared as a judge[4] on Project Runway: Middle East in 2016.[5] As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques.[5] Kate Middleton wore a Saab gown to the Royal Ascot in 2019, marking the first occasion where Saab has dressed a British royal family member.[6]
Early life[edit]
Elie Saab is the eldest son of a wood merchant who raised five children in Damour, a southern coastal suburb in Beirut, Lebanon.[7]
Born to Maronite Catholic Lebanese[8] parents in Beirut, Saab began sewing as a child. At the age of eight, his attention had turned to fashion. With his sisters serving as models, he would cut patterns out of newspaper and search his mother's closet for materials.[9]
Controversies[edit]
In January 2018, Saab received backlash on social media after his label's Instagram account posted a picture of Israeli actress Gal Gadot wearing one of his dresses to the National Board of Review awards with the caption "A flawless Gal Gadot in Elie Saab Ready-to-Wear Spring Summer 2018 at the national board of review annual gala in New York". The post was later deleted.[69]