Showstopper

Move over, Dior and Valentino. There's a new designer in Paris, and he can cut an elegant yet still sexy evening dress. Elie Saab is probably best known for creating the claret colored embroidered ball gown that Halle Berry wore when she won her Best Actress Oscar. However, he's got many more tricks up his sleeve.

This fall Saab showed some amazing jewel-toned and muted metallic dresses. He's one of the few designers who can create a dress that looks timeless and yet still totally modern. For instance, look at this stunning number - would this ever look dated?

Or these gowns - any of which qualify as artistic masterpieces, in my opinion:
The sapphire blue one is seasonless, and the color is flattering on almost everyone. And its way more interesting than black (as much as I like black, sometimes a girl just wants to stand out).

The plum color of the gown on the right is huge for fall - not just in 2005, but every autumn. Rich, warm jewel tones come back every year. The beading on the bodice is also very flattering, in that it would nip in the waist and highlight an hourglass figure, or create curves where they are needed. And the matching fur stole is just fabulous, isn't it? Here are a few more examples of Saab's genius. Don't they just make you wish you had a big event to wear them to?
Elie also showed a few cocktail dresses. Almost all of them have little matching jackets or sheer gauzy wraps to cover up with - somehow he manages to make his models look sexy and yet still modest in them.

Finally, although Saab's collection was pretty fabulous, no one's perfect. Take a look at this: