Elie Saab SS27: A Garden Opens Against the Skin

Spring arrived at Elie Saab as a garden already awake. The runway was washed in terracotta tones and surrounded by dense greenery, wild heather, dried baby’s breath and flowers. Models moved through the space with tiny blossoms and dew-like droplets scattered across their faces, carrying the landscape directly onto the skin.

Elie Saab SS27 Begins in Full Bloom

The atmosphere felt lush, humid and alive, as though the clothes had emerged from the same earth as the plants around them.

At the heart of À Fleur de Peau stood Jean Harlow. The Hollywood starlet brought with her the languor of the 1930s screen, platinum light, silk slipping across the body and glamour shaped through ease. Elie Saab translated that cinematic sensuality into a wardrobe filled with movement.

The French title deepened the mood. À fleur de peau evokes something resting close to the skin while also describing heightened sensitivity, emotion rising just beneath the surface. That double meaning became the pulse of the collection.

Silk skimmed the body. Lace traced its edges. Transparency allowed layers to breathe into one another. Corsetry gave form beneath softness. Every surface seemed to hold a little air. Spring here arrived through touch.

Glamour Opens Like a Flower

The collection notes describe a sense of “polish coming undone,” and the runway gave that idea a beautifully organic rhythm.

Linings trailed lightly behind dresses. Hemlines dipped and curved. Lace spilled beyond silk. Bralettes appeared beneath jackets, while slips and corsets became visible parts of the silhouette. Outer layers rested loosely around the body, as though caught moments after dressing.

That looseness brought a delicate sense of life into Elie Saab. Long column and sheath dresses followed the figure in fluid vertical lines before opening through slits, asymmetric hems or sheer sections. Slip shapes carried thin straps and lingerie necklines, while translucent skirts floated over the legs with an almost petal-like fragility.

A trench coat placed over cascading sheer layers became one of the season’s clearest gestures. Its familiar shape grounded the softness underneath, allowing the sensuality of the collection to travel into daytime dressing.

Movement shaped the entire proposition. Fabric swayed, gathered and slipped as models walked, giving each look the impression of something still forming. The clothes seemed caught between bloom and release.

Material became atmosphere throughout Elie Saab SS27. Silk, satin, chiffon, lace, shimmering net and translucent surfaces created a wardrobe that seemed built from light. Leather and structured outerwear brought moments of density, creating a rhythm between softness and weight.

Draping played one of the central roles. Silk wrapped across the torso, curved around the hip and fell diagonally toward the floor. The body guided the fabric, while gravity completed the shape. Long folds appeared to unfurl naturally, much like petals opening under morning heat.

Corsetry gave that softness a quiet internal architecture. Bodices framed the torso beneath floating skirts and sheer overlays, holding the silhouette close before releasing it into movement.

Floral embroidery carried the season’s garden imagery directly onto the garments. Roses appeared against black lace and pale pink silk, while crystals gathered around hips and necklines like concentrated points of dew.

A dusty rose gown captured the collection’s romance especially well. Lace shaped the upper body, silk crêpe flowed downward, a high slit opened the line, and crystal detailing shimmered at the hip.

The Best Pieces Belong Between Boudoir and Garden

The strongest looks in Elie Saab SS27 allowed intimacy to move freely into the outside world. A trench worn over transparent skirts carried the softness of lingerie into the rhythm of the street. The tailoring gave structure while the layers underneath floated around the legs like thin petals.

Leather jackets paired with chiffon created another striking dialogue. Weight sat above; air moved below. The body seemed rooted at the shoulders and released through the hem.

The draped silk gowns held the clearest echo of Jean Harlow. Their elongated lines, gathered surfaces and sensuous fall recalled old Hollywood while remaining deeply rooted in Elie Saab’s own understanding of eveningwear.

Elsewhere, embroidered lingerie dresses brought roses, lace and corset structures close to the skin. Their sensuality came through proximity and touch: a ribbon crossing the body, a sheer layer revealing another beneath, embroidery resting against the curve of the waist.

A camel-toned mini offered a sharper bloom within the collection. Its sculptural folding gave the silhouette the compact shape of a flower bud, tightly gathered before opening.

The styling carried the floral fantasy beyond the garments. Bralettes remained visible beneath sheer layers. Ribbons and bows appeared throughout the collection with a gentle, intimate quality. Jackets rested loosely around the shoulders, while outerwear framed lingerie-inspired pieces with casual ease.

Footwear brought another romantic gesture through sky-high ballerina-inspired shapes and crossover mules. Their delicacy extended the collection’s language downward, keeping the body elongated and light.

Oversized butterfly eyewear added a playful spring symbol, including gold-plated monogrammed frames that gave the show a clearer commercial signature. Tiny flowers rested across faces. Dew-like droplets caught the light. Models appeared almost freshly emerged from a garden after rain, carrying traces of nature directly across the cheekbones and temples.

Elie Saab SS27 Lets Spring Touch the Skin

Behind the softness of SS27 sits a deeper process within Elie Saab. The creative team has been revisiting the house archives preserved at the Elie Saab Foundation in Beirut, returning to corsetry, draping, lace, embroidery and the sensual evening language that shaped the brand’s rise during the early 2000s.

These archival codes reappeared with a lighter touch. The process feels almost botanical. Old forms are being lifted from the archive, studied, pressed, reopened and allowed to bloom in altered shapes.

For decades, Elie Saab has understood the gown as a vessel for fantasy. SS27 allows that fantasy to loosen its grip and move through an entire wardrobe.

Here, glamour exists in the moment before everything settles perfectly into place. Each detail carries the tenderness of early spring, when everything seems freshly opened and still vulnerable to touch.

À Fleur de Peau finds beauty in that fragility. The collection imagines an Elie Saab woman surrounded by bloom, yet the season’s deepest romance comes from the body itself: warm, moving, alive beneath silk and lace.