Combining Western silhouettes and shapes with a Middle Eastern flair for ornamentation and embellishment, Elie Saab s romantic evening wear has earned him fans from all over the world, particularly with brides-to-be. Born and raised in Damour, a coastal suburb of #Beirut, Saab began teaching himself how to sew before the age of 10, dressing his sister in scraps of fabric from their mother s closet that he would put together. By 1982, at age 18, he had launched his own label in Beirut, after a brief stint at design school in #Paris. Despite the civil war that broke out in #Lebanon in 1975 that displaced many people, including Saab s own family, he insisted on opening his dressmaking studio in his native country.
The designer is also popular with royal families in the Middle East; Queen Rania of Jordan famously wore one of his gowns for her coronation ceremony in 1999. On the red carpet, Halle Berry put Saab on Hollywood s fashion map when she accepted her 2002 Academy Award in a sheer embroidered gown with a crimson taffeta skirt. He became the first non-Italian designer to be accepted into the Camera Nazionale della Moda, the country s governing body for Milan Fashion Week, where he debuted his ready-to-wear line. Shortly thereafter, in 2003, Saab was invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris to be a member and still remains one of the few officially ordained #hautecouture labels in the world. Saab s company is now based in Paris and he splits his time between Lebanon, France and Switzerland, with his wife Claudine. On his birthday, discover more about the designer at businessoffashion.com [Link in bio]
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