Lebanese designer Elie Saab will not participate in the upcoming Paris Couture Week due to the lockdown currently active in Lebanon.
Saab was set to present his Spring 2021 collection during the week of January 25th-28th, but the COVID-19-induced restrictions recently imposed in Lebanon, including a strict, all-day curfew, meant the presentation had to be postponed.
The collection will instead be presented when the public health situation improves, in order to protect his team of more than 400 people, Elie Saab Jr., the CEO of the label founded by his father, said in an interview with WWD.
Saab said the haute couture collection is ready, “but there’s the whole shooting logistic, which is quite complicated.”
“We decided to take a small break and wait for the right time to shoot it and to present it to the public,” he added, noting the high risk of the situation in Lebanon, which he said must be met with caution and responsibility from their side.
Lebanon had declared a state of emergency on January 11th. The decision took effect 3 days later and was initially supposed to expire on January 25th, but it was just extended until February 8th during an official meeting on Thursday.
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