DUBAI: British-Moroccan model Nora Attal took to the runway during Saturday night’s Elie Saab Spring/Summer 2019 show in Paris wearing a sober-toned sequined outfit.
At Saturday's show, the hugely popular Lebanese designer showed off 58 new outfits that skipped the usual full-throttle, cinched-waist sensuality and energy of his designs, an exception being thigh-high boots.
In its place was a more playful version of Saab that was willing to explore new ideas — for better and for worse, according to The Associated Press.
Overpowering, dark floral prints on pants, minis and billowing skirts contrasted with angelic lace and fastidious detailing that evoked the 1970s.
A leopard print look fared badly, its single exposed shoulder looking out of balance, AP noted of the daring design that was outside of Saab’s elegant, shimmering comfort zone.
But other gowns, such as a striped bohemian number, showed that Saab was daring to venture out of that bread-and-butter comfort zone with some success.
Saab is riding high after the coup of having Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank wear a gown he designed for her wedding last month. The ethereal wedding gown was made of 25 meters of Chantilly lace, eight meters of silk chiffon and six meters of organza silk and took 150 hours to create.
For her part, Attal donned a black, sequined shorts-and-jacket combo with sporty detailing in the form of yellow-and-blue racer stripes on the top half. A rich, dark-hued floral top with blue embroidered overlay completed the look.
Attal also took to the runway for Spanish luxury fashion house Loewe, which stayed characteristically casual with a collection of muted, khaki colors — from cream, to tan, olive green and a few shots of burnt orange and lime green.
The model walked the catwalk wearing a bohemian patchwork dress with multiple thigh-high splits and chunky beige boots.
Spring/Summer collections are supposed to be about throwing open the windows to a world of color and floral fancy, but Paris shows have been notably more sober and austere than usual — almost puritanical in fact when it comes to prints, AFP reported.
Hedi Slimane, whose father is Tunisian, went on a voyage to the heart of black in his long-anticipated debut at Celine, as did his successor at Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello.
Blink at the Margiela, Guy Laroche, Olivier Theyskens or Hyun Mi Nielsen shows and you might have thought yourself at a funeral there was so much black, while Rick Owens summoned up the Salem witch-hunts, smoking pyre and all.
Two tones, black and white, dominated the catwalks.
Even Balmain was uncharacteristically restrained, which is no bad thing.
Dior — where flowers are never far away — was utterly lovely but also determinedly unflashy, AFP added.
It was left to the king of prints Dries van Noten, as well as Jour/Ne, Paco Rabanne and India's jester genius Manish Arora to bring some fizz to the party, with the latter outdoing himself with a technicolor collection that burned itself into memory as well as the retina.
