H&M has chosen its next big name, and it’s no small choice: Elie Saab, the Lebanese couturier who has become one of the most cited names on red carpets for forty years, will design a collection for the Swedish retailer, available in stores and online starting October 22, 2026. The announcement is bound to surprise those who associate Saab with rhinestone-embroidered evening gowns rather than the accessible racks of the fast-fashion giant.
The couturier’s career, however, explains this leap rather well. Trained in Beirut, where he first made his name in bridal wear before becoming one of the first international members of the Parisian Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, Elie Saab built his house on an instantly recognizable language: color gradients, beaded embroidery, hand-draped cuts. All signatures the collaboration promises to translate across a full wardrobe designed for H&M rather than for the runway alone.
The press release describes ornate evening gowns, shimmering ensembles and sharply cut tailoring, punctuated with fine lace, gradient sequins and the house’s monogram. One piece in particular stands out: a green dress with a draped side opening, echoing a motif Saab has explored several times in his archive, down to his perfume campaign. The collection also extends to menswear, with silk pajamas embroidered with the logo and double-breasted suits.
‘This collaboration allows us to explore a world we have always respected,’ says Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative advisor at H&M, describing a journey ‘from the master of Beirut bridal wear to the heart of Parisian fashion.’ For his part, Saab emphasizes the collaborative process: ‘every piece was carefully created to compose a complete wardrobe that speaks to every moment of a woman’s life.’
The bet is not new in principle — H&M has built part of its identity on such collaborations with luxury houses, from Balmain to Mugler — but it is new in its ambition. Bringing to the street an aesthetic built so heavily around rarity and handcraft raises, as always, the same question: what remains of a couturier’s signature once transposed to an industrial scale? The launch, planned in a selection of Gulf markets and Egypt ahead of an online rollout, will let everyone form their own opinion.
What remains is that the choice of name says something about the moment ready-to-wear is going through: an openly claimed desire to reintroduce glamour from another era into wardrobes designed to move fast. Between Beirut and Swedish mass retail, Elie Saab is attempting the wager of a romanticism that could hang on a big-box store rack.
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