EXCLUSIVE: Elie Saab to Broadcast Fashion Show With Live Performances During Riyadh Season

PARIS — Elie Saab is adding another event to his busy fashion calendar. The Lebanese designer will stage an experiential extravaganza during Riyadh Season on Nov. 13.

Saab is creating an entertainment event called “1001 Seasons of Elie Saab” — a nod to the ‘1001 Nights’ collection of Arabic folktales — that will encompass a runway presentation and several performances. It will be broadcast on television network MBC across the Gulf region, and stream globally on the brand’s social platforms.

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The show will “bridge fashion and entertainment,” said Elie Saab chief executive officer Elie Saab Jr. He likened it to a film translated into a live experience.

The production is envisioned as a series of intertwining tableaus showcasing Saab’s designs, with around 300 looks to be shown on sets, interspersed with live performances. The CEO could not yet divulge who will take to the stage, but promised some “capital A” A-list talent and longtime friends of the brand.

British television and live event producer Done+Dusted, the company behind the Victoria’s Secret fashion shows and the Academy Awards, is on board to direct. Carine Roitfeld will style the show, while Piergiorgio Del Moro will handle casting.

Saab and Saab Jr. are serving as executive producers on the show, under Saab’s creative direction.

The event is an anniversary celebration for Saab, marking his 45th year in business as well as a return to Saudi Arabia, which was his first market outside of Lebanon. There’s an emotional importance to hosting the event in Saudi Arabia, he said, as well as a desire to raise awareness of the cultural change currently underway in the kingdom.

“These are people who have believed in Elie Saab since day one, the women of Saudi Arabia. I want to show the Saudi woman how modern she is, because the world press doesn’t know this side of Saudi Arabia,” Saab told WWD in an interview. “Because really the Saudi woman is a woman of very refined taste, with enormous purchasing power, and all the world’s fashion houses can agree with what I’m saying.”

He hopes to show the country from “a different angle,” he added.

“All the developments and all the work that they are doing for Saudi Arabia and for a new global image, I think that we, the house, are with them on this project. It’s something very important for us and for them,” he said.

Saab called the overarching plan “a new mode of communication” about the brand that will be reflected through the clothes, which will include his signature gowns, capes, coats as well as head jewelry with a modern approach while respecting the Saudi codes.

The company is working with the support of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the country’s general entertainment authority, to bring the event to life.

“Riyadh Season was a key driver of change in the kingdom,” Saab Jr. said. “[The show] will cement the idea of this change by presenting this collection with empowered women, which is what we represent.…The showcase will be translating the evolution that is also happening in the kingdom.”

Riyadh Season is a series of entertainment and sporting events scheduled throughout the winter,  launched in 2019 as an initiative to promote the kingdom’s economic and cultural development. The Saab event will be held at The Venue, newly built for cultural events.

Saab Jr. ensures the company has had full creative freedom on the production. “There is a lot of trust between us in the partnership, because they know in the end that we are a global brand that is coming back to the region. They know we understand both worlds very well.”

Saab Jr. notes that the country has been actively courting events and celebrities that place it on a global stage, such as the Red Sea Film Festival and its own fashion week in the capital, and hopes such a large-scale event will continue to establish Saudi Arabia’s place on the fashion map.

“The fashion commission is driving very positive change and is working on the foundation and the fundamentals of what it takes to build a fashion ecosystem,” he said.

The Elie Saab brand has already expanded into interiors and real estate projects outside of its core business of fashion, fragrance and accessories, and the company sees the event as signaling the next evolution of the Elie Saab name, as well as placing it at the forefront of the overall trajectory in the fashion industry to create events and experiences.

“It’s more than a show, it’s an event that hasn’t been done before in the fashion world. It’s a new instrument to present fashion…it will increase the visibility [and] the value of the house. It’s going to go into another dimension of success,” Saab said.

The show will be less about “pushing product” than creating a new type of marketing. “Our goal is not to overwhelm with different messages, and at the end, the show embodies the Saab group, which already has those key pillars cemented in its portfolio,” said Saab Jr.

Globally, the company is moving forward with its retail expansion plan for additional store openings around the world.

“Our [retail] roll out has been diligently studied to fulfill demand that we know is there for the brand,” he said of the target locations.

They are currently planning an opening in Kuwait slated for January 2025, which will complete Saab’s presence in the Gulf nations. Two to three planned openings are planned for key markets in the U.S. over the next two years.

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