ELIE SAAB

Elie Saab, born 4 July 1964 And sometimes called simply “ES”, is a Lebanese fashion designer.

In 1982, at 18 years old, at the height of Beirut's civil war, Saab launched his own fashion brand based in Beirut, presented his first clothes collection, opened his first store and opened a small workshop where he made wedding dresses. His main workshop is in Lebanon, a country to which remains deeply attached. Also has workshops in Milan and Paris.

For Saab the design and fashion are his great passion, since child dreamed of manufacture beautiful clothes; Saab is autodidact, began to sew from child and knew that one day he would live on it. In 1981 he moved to Paris to study fashion design, but decided to return to his country to open its workshop in 1982. In 1997, Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion and , in the same year, presented his first collection outside of Lebanon in Rome. In 1998 introduced a line Ready to Wear in Milan and a fashion show in Monaco, at which the princess Estefanía de Mónaco was present.

He got notoriety at his 40 years, after becoming the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner, Halle Berry, at the awards ceremony of 2002.

In May 2003, the Chamber Association of Haute Couture invited him to become one of its members and presented his first collection of haute couture in Paris in July 2003. His first collection Ready to Wear in Paris was the Collection Spring-Summer 2006.

The French capital is now his permanent platform for his ready-to-ware designs. His creations can be found all over the world and in his boutiques of Beirut and Paris. It is known the predilection of their designs by women of purchasing power in South America.

These are some personalities that have been dressed by him: Eva Green, Emma Watson, Christina Aguilera, Tonka Tomicic, Nawal Al-Zoghby, Beyoncé Knowles, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bérénice Bejo, Charlize Theron, Diane Kruger, Debra Messing, Eva Longoria, etc..