ELIE SAAB SPRING 2020 HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION

ELIE SAAB SPRING 2020 HAUTE COUTURE COLLECTION

Elie Saab's Spring Couture show is an ode to a world of opulence that lives in dreams and fantasies—or on red carpets.

February 3, 2020

The Elie Saab Spring 2020 Haute Couture collection intertwines the regal past of both Europe & Mexico, bringing them together in the present. The rather convoluted story went that a woman receives a letter summoning her to Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City; suspended between dream and reality, she wanders about the place, obviously clad in the magnificent couture concoctions in which, quoting the notes, “the regal past of both Europe and imperial Mexico are intertwined.”

Not being particularly acquainted with Mexican heraldry, I had no basis for an opinion about the more or less faithful rendition the designer gave of said imperial imagery. But that wasn’t the point. What stood out was the golden shimmer the collection seemed to be bathed in. The dresses looked as if immersed in an uninterrupted stream of curlicued embroideries, incrustations of florals and pearls, and intarsia-ed baroque swirls. With embellishments of an imperial magnitude, shapes seemed not to differ much from one another, overwhelmed by ruffles, swirls of rosettes, and bows. Silhouettes had fitted bodices and dramatic Elizabethan leg-of-mutton sleeves with trains and long capes adding to the majestic effect.

Providing respite from such opulent visual overload, a series of beautifully sculpted silk duchesse gowns in jewel tones of chartreuse, coral, and turquoise had the right mix of glamour and theatrical presence.

Watch backstage as the magical Elie Saab Spring 2020 Haute Couture runway show comes to life.

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