ELIE SAAB: The Lebanese Dreamer Who Captured Mediterranean Light in Scent

エリー サーブの世界観と代表製品「Le Parfum Eau de Parfum」を表現したブランドイメージ

“Creating perfume had become an inevitable step in the development of our couture house. Through fragrance, I wanted to build an olfactory signature worthy of the brand’s DNA.”

— Elie Saab (on signing the licensing agreement with Beauté Prestige International, 2009)

Basic Information

Brand name: ELIE SAAB
Fragrance line launched: 2011
Founder: Elie Saab
Fragrance licensee: Give Back Beauty. The original licensee was Beauté Prestige International (BPI, Shiseido Group)
Official website: eliesaab.com

The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

A Dream Born in Beirut During the Civil War

Elie Saab was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 4, 1964, and grew up in Damour, a coastal town to the south. The eldest of five children, he was the son of a timber merchant.

From an early age, his attention was directed toward the people around him. The way adults walked, the colors of dresses, the lengths of skirts: Elie spent the time other children spent playing on observing people. He later recalled it as follows.

“From childhood, I looked at the people around me differently. I kept observing how they walked and dressed. I saw them not as they were, but dressed differently. The wrong colors, different lengths, a skirt that was too short, a jacket that was too tight: I noticed each detail. My perspective on women was always about bringing out their elegance and femininity. Those circumstances brought me to where I am today.”

— Elie Saab (Whitewall interview, 2017)

By around the age of eight, he is said to have begun making clothes from scraps of fabric at hand, with his sisters as models. This homemade atelier became the starting point for the house that would later make waves in Paris haute couture.

Longing for Paris, Then Returning to Beirut

The Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, leaving the country devastated. Even so, he sought to realize his dream in his homeland. In 1981, shortly before turning 18, he spent a brief period in Paris to study fashion. He returned to Beirut the following year, in 1982, and established his own brand.

His first show took place at Casino du Liban. The next day’s newspaper placed an article about his collection beside photographs of the Lebanese war, a sight Saab has said he would never forget. He hired 15 staff members and presented his first collection a few months later. Its evening dresses, with beautiful embroidery on slim, elegant silhouettes, were entirely consistent with the brand’s image today.

At first, his parents were reluctant to accept his choice of fashion design as a profession. Saab has said that they really wanted him to become a lawyer or a doctor. But he did not waver.

“There was no fashion industry in Lebanon. I had to teach myself much of the business, but I held on to my belief. When success came, my parents accepted my choice and gave me their blessing.”

— Elie Saab (Whitewall interview)

A Breakthrough onto the International Stage: Rome, Then Paris

After building his reputation in Beirut throughout the 1980s and gaining clients in France and Switzerland in the 1990s, Saab took a historic step in 1997. He became the first non-Italian member of the prestigious Camera Nazionale della Moda and presented his first international collection in Rome.

“I knew that Rome was an important step that would later lead to Paris. Press and clients came from around the world, and the response was wonderful.”

— Elie Saab (Whitewall)

In 1998, he launched ready-to-wear in Milan. In 1999, Queen Rania wore an Elie Saab gown at her coronation in Jordan, deepening the house’s ties with Middle Eastern royal families.

The decisive turning point came in 2002. At the 74th Academy Awards, actress Halle Berry accepted the Best Actress award wearing Elie Saab’s sheer burgundy gown. The moment was recorded as the first instance of a Lebanese designer dressing an Oscar-winning actress, and the brand’s name resounded across America and Europe.

In 2003, at the invitation of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the central institution of French haute couture, he presented a couture collection in Paris. He is known as the first Lebanese designer to join this French fashion institution. Sources differ on the year of his first Paris presentation; in a 2024 interview, Saab himself recalled it as 1999.

The Decision to Enter Fragrance

After establishing a firm position as a fashion house, Saab decided to enter another world: perfume. In September 2009, he signed a ten-year licensing agreement with Beauté Prestige International (BPI), the Shiseido Group’s specialist fragrance company. BPI already had a strong track record, having developed fragrances for brands such as Issey Miyake, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Narciso Rodriguez.

At the announcement, BPI president Rémy Gomez said, “After at least 27 years in couture, Mr. Elie Saab has chosen BPI for his first step into fragrance. This reaffirms our company’s reason for being.”

The Brand’s Commitments

A Philosophy of Translating “Light” into Scent

The themes running consistently through ELIE SAAB fragrances are light and femininity. Just as the designer uses the waist as a reference point when creating a collection, the fragrances have an unwavering core: memories of Beirut filled with Mediterranean sunlight, and childhood landscapes where floral scents drifted on the breeze.

Saab described the inspiration for his signature fragrance as follows.

“As with my collections, women inspire me above all. I wanted to capture an amplified vision of femininity in a fragrance. Many childhood memories also came to mind. I have always loved scents, and growing up in a city on the Mediterranean meant being surrounded by the fragrance of many flowers. I wanted to transfer the light of the Middle East into a universal, contemporary fragrance.”

— Elie Saab

Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian described his feelings on approaching the project in these terms.

“What appealed to me most about working for Elie Saab was the idea of interpreting light. I had no particular image in mind, only a sensation: the whiteness of the sun at its zenith, radiant femininity, and a contemporary interpretation of sensuality.”

— Francis Kurkdjian

Kurkdjian also focused on reflecting the characteristics of Elie Saab’s dresses in the fragrance.

“The fragrance should leave a light trace, like the hem of a dress.”

— Francis Kurkdjian (Los Angeles Times interview, 2011)

Attention to Bottle Design: A Crystal Cube That Captures Light

One particularly notable aspect of ELIE SAAB fragrance is the extraordinary passion devoted to bottle design. The bottle for the first fragrance, Le Parfum, was created by French designer Sylvie de France.

During the six-month bottle-development process, Saab sought a vessel that would be an art object.

“Straight lines, the rigor of a cube, and, as always, light: those were my themes.”

— Elie Saab (ELLE, 2011)

The finished Le Parfum bottle is a substantial glass cube cut like crystal and designed to reflect light like a prism. Its outer packaging incorporates the beige-and-brown palette of the travertine used in ELIE SAAB boutique interiors.

On one side of the bottle is a relief of a silhouette with a ribbon tied in a bow at the waist, a design symbolizing Elie Saab’s couture dresses.

A Commitment to Materials

In fragrance development, the ELIE SAAB house consistently places importance on the quality of natural floral materials. Orange blossom and jasmine are signature notes running through its main women’s collections, with high-quality natural materials used wherever possible. Attention to origin is also evident, as in the Indian jasmine sambac absolute used in Le Parfum Lumière.

The Fragrance Lineup

Here we introduce two main ELIE SAAB fragrance collections, Le Parfum and Girl of Now, along with the men’s fragrance L’Homme.

The Le Parfum Collection

The flagship collection has continued as a signature line since the first fragrance launched in 2011. Various interpretations have been added around its signature core of orange blossom and patchouli.

Le Parfum (2011)
The brand’s first fragrance, composed by Francis Kurkdjian. This floral-solar-woody composition features top notes of orange blossom, a heart of jasmine grandiflorum and jasmine sambac, and a base of patchouli, a cedar woody accord, and rose honey. It reportedly became a top seller in 15 countries in its first year. At the 2012 FiFi Awards in France, the house won three categories: Best Women’s Fragrance, Best Women’s Bottle Design, and Best Women’s Advertising Campaign. That same year it also received awards at Germany’s Duftstars, the UK FiFi Awards, and the FiFi Arabia Awards.

Le Parfum Eau de Toilette (2012)
A lighter version of the original eau de parfum (EDP). It highlights the freshness of mandarin blossom while retaining the signature jasmine and cedar, for a fresh interpretation.

Le Parfum Rose Couture (2016)
A romantic version replacing the jasmine at the original’s heart with rose nectar. Composed by Francis Kurkdjian.

Le Parfum In White (2018)
Inspired by the bridal collection, this more radiant interpretation wraps orange blossom and jasmine in a veil of white musk.

Le Parfum Royal (2019)
Composed by Maïa Lernout. An ambery-floral chypre combining Turkish rose absolute and Bulgarian rose with Lebanese neroli. True to its name, it takes a queen as its theme and features a substantial base of Indonesian patchouli and sandalwood.

Le Parfum Essentiel (2020)
Composed by Maïa Lernout. A white-floral chypre of mandarin and gardenia. Lernout, who had worked in the same office as Francis Kurkdjian, offered a new interpretation while maintaining respect for his original.

Le Parfum Lumière (2021)
Composed by Francis Kurkdjian. Inspired by the light of a Mediterranean dawn, this ambery-floral composition places Indian jasmine sambac absolute and Madagascan ylang-ylang at its core.

Le Parfum Bridal (2023)
A fragrance linked to the bridal collection and centered on ylang-ylang, orange blossom, and amber.

The Girl of Now Collection

Unveiled in July 2017 to coincide with Paris Haute Couture Week, this is a second pillar with a different DNA from Le Parfum. With a theme addressed to contemporary women, it presents a younger, more playful world.

Girl of Now (2017)
Created by Dominique Ropion and Sophie Labbé, then at IFF. This oriental-floral fragrance combines gourmand top notes of pistachio and almond with a floral heart of orange blossom and magnolia and a woody base of patchouli and cashmeran. The bottle has blue-enamel and gold floral decorations inspired by the ELIE SAAB collections.

Girl of Now Shine
A version with added radiance from jasmine and pineapple.

Girl of Now Forever (2019)
A version using an unprecedented material, with fruity top notes of lemon zest and raspberry and a unique rose-and-blackcurrant co-distillate called “Rosa Cassia” at its center.

Girl of Now Lovely and Girl of Now Rose Petal
More romantic interpretations, also distinguished by flower-like colors. Lovely combines orange blossom, almond, and frangipani, while Rose Petal offers a fresh-floral-fruity scent centered on three types of rose.

L’Homme (2025)

ELIE SAAB’s first men’s fragrance, composed by Pierre Guéros of Symrise. This woody-aromatic scent has a fresh top of Italian bergamot and pink pepper, a powerful heart of Haitian and Madagascan vetiver, and a woody drydown of cedar, patchouli, and myrrh.

The bottle was designed by Sylvie de France, with glass shading from smoky tones to amber gold. Its refillable design also incorporates an awareness of sustainability.

Elie Saab’s son, Elie Saab Jr., is now involved in managing the house, and the launch of L’Homme is positioned as part of this new chapter.

By the Way…

  • Elie Saab himself is known for rarely wearing perfume. He established his atelier at 18 in the harsh conditions of civil-war Beirut, and his conviction that circumstances brought him to where he is reflects the same attitude as his pride in fragrance.
  • The Le Parfum advertising campaign featured renowned Polish model Anja Rubik and was photographed by Mert & Marcus. Its imagery portrayed a modern urban princess walking through the city in a strapless chiffon dress, and won Best Women’s Advertising Campaign at the 2012 FiFi Awards in France.
  • The massive Beirut explosion on August 4, 2020, also caused severe damage to Elie Saab’s atelier and home. Nevertheless, he rebuilt his atelier in Beirut and continued working. His statement that war nurtured the urge to create art succinctly expresses the relationship between Lebanon and his own creativity.
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