Lebanese designer Elie Saab celebrated 45 years in the industry last week with an elaborative showcase titled "The 1001 Seasons of Elie Saab" in Saudi Arabia. The show was a grand celebration which featured live performances by Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, and Camila Cabello. Although one of its kind, the show is now garnering some backlash on social media for being “insensitive.”While many hailed it as a symbol of Lebanese artistry, there is also a section of people who have deemed the designer as “ignorant.” One X user wrote, “Spending a night in LaLa Land full with music & celebration while your Lebanon is under attack,” wrote an X user. Many other people expressed their displeasure over the same.

The glam event featured 300 of Saab’s meticulously crafted ensembles. The event had a star-studded lineup with musical performances by Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion, as well as Arab pop icons Amr Diab and Nancy Ajram. There was an audience of over 1,000 guests. The showcase came as a Riyadh Season, a series of cultural and entertainment events launched in 2019 under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 initiative to promote tourism.According to media reports, the designer when asked about holding the event amid ongoing war, said, “Honestly, the only pain today was holding this event when our country [Lebanon] is in such a state. But I want to say that, my whole life has been like this. During my first show in 1982, Israel was also invading Lebanon.”He further added that he would have liked to postponed the event but with certain obligations, it would have been next to impossible. As per a press release from the fashion brand, “The 1001 Seasons of Elie Saab” event had been over a year in the making, and it was included as part of the official calendar for the 2024 Riyadh Season. Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority Turki bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Alshaikh served as co-host, alongside Saab himself.Some of the other celebrities present at the event were Carine Roitfeld, Monica Bellucci, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Poppy Delevingne and Kelly Rutherford. Stars like Helena Christensen, Candice Swanepoel, Alek Wek, Eva Herzigova, Jourdan Dunn and Adriana Lima took over the ramp.