Elie Saab and India have been on familiar terms for a long time. His couture has walked the steps at Cannes on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor, and his gowns have travelled home in the suitcases of Delhi brides for years. This month, that relationship gets an address of its own: the House's first boutique in India, at DLF Emporio in Vasant Kunj.
The timing is well judged. The store opens as the wedding season gets under way, and its 161 square metres are arranged for exactly that client. Ready-to-wear, perfumes, accessories and kidswear share the floor, and a private salon is set aside for bridal appointments.
The ELIE SAAB façade at DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Two moods in the window
The windows make the case quickly. On the left stand three looks in black: a long-sleeved lace column with a high collar, a sheer kaftan printed in red and black over a black slip, and a deep-V gown pieced together from lace panels. On the right, a red jumpsuit with wide, fluid sleeves and a jewelled clasp at the neckline sits beside a black dress crossed by a single white band at the shoulders. This is evening dressing, and it reads clearly from across the concourse.
On the rails
Inside, the ready-to-wear speaks the House's language fluently. Long navy dresses are scattered with printed blossoms. A blush tulle gown is embroidered with appliquéd petals. Pleated skirts come in stripes of sand and black, and a strapless black ballgown in corded lace is finished with a slim gold belt. A pair of jeans hangs among the silks, a reminder that the House dresses its clients for the daytime too.
Pieces from the ELIE SAAB Maison collection lend the boutique the ease of a private drawing room.
The furniture is from ELIE SAAB Maison, the interiors line designed with the Italian architect Carlo Colombo and made in Italy. A channel-tufted sofa in mustard velvet faces a bouclé armchair across a pair of bronze side tables, all set on a saffron rug. It is a comfortable room, the kind where a mother settles in while her daughter tries on the next look.
Behind the bronze door
The real point of the store sits behind a bronze doorframe. In the private salon, two bridal gowns stand against panels of painted tropical foliage. One is in ivory guipure lace with a long, sweeping train; the other is a strapless gown in sheer tulle, worked in a fine grid.
Outside the salon, the rails move through blush and nude: draped chiffon capes, cut-work lace columns, pleated chiffon and a wrap top fastened with a jewelled brooch. Across the floor, black and silver dresses patterned with laser-cut circles add some edge to the evening offer. A Delhi bride's wardrobe runs to several looks, and this salon gives her room to try them in private, by appointment.
Why Delhi, why now
Delhi has always dressed for the occasion. This is a city shaped by courtly tradition, where the Mughal karkhanas once produced zardozi and fine embroidery for the imperial court, and where the lanes of Chandni Chowk still trade in silks, brocades and gold thread. Craft here is a living inheritance, passed down through families of artisans and worn with pride at every celebration.
It is also India's couture capital. India Couture Week has long made Delhi its home, and the city's designers have built a vocabulary of hand embroidery, rich surface work and lavish evening dressing. Elie Saab, with his beading, lace and embroidered tulle, speaks that same language.
Above all, Delhi celebrates. The wedding season fills the calendar from autumn to spring, and a family wedding unfolds over several days, each function with its own look: the mehendi, the sangeet, the ceremony, the reception. Women here plan these wardrobes with the eye of a collector, pairing heirloom textiles with international eveningwear and dressing for the grand entrance every time.
For a House built on bridal gowns, embroidery and unforgettable entrances, the match is a natural one. Delhi brings the culture of ceremony; Elie Saab brings the couture. The boutique at DLF Emporio is where the two meet.
A House built on occasions
Elie Saab founded his atelier in Beirut in 1982, at the age of eighteen. Queen Rania of Jordan wore his work for her enthronement in 1999. Halle Berry wore one of his gowns to win her Oscar in 2002, and the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture invited him to join a year later.
The red carpet record speaks for itself. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan chose black lace Elie Saab couture at Cannes in 2013. Sonam Kapoor opened Cannes 2017 in a custom millennial-pink gown with silver appliqués inspired by coral. At the Red Sea International Film Festival, Alia Bhatt accepted the inaugural Golden Globe Horizon Award in Elie Saab Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025/26, styled by Rhea Kapoor and Shereen Lovebug.
The business case belongs to Elie Saab Jr., the founder's son, who runs the group as Vice Chairman and CEO. In January, the House announced Signature Residences by ELIE SAAB with M3M India and Smartworld Developers, in Gurugram and Noida, its first branded homes in the country. At that launch, he told reporters that a ready-to-wear store in Delhi would follow. It arrived within the year.
Delhi now takes its place on a map that includes Paris, Beirut, London, New York, Milan, Monaco, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. For the city's brides, the shopping trip to Dubai just got a great deal shorter.
TO BE CONTINUED, FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
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Elie Saab and India have been on familiar terms for a long time. His couture has walked the steps at Cannes on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor, and his gowns have travelled home in the suitcases of Delhi brides for years. This month, that relationship gets an address of its own: the House's first boutique in India, at DLF Emporio in Vasant Kunj.
The timing is well judged. The store opens as the wedding season gets under way, and its 161 square metres are arranged for exactly that client. Ready-to-wear, perfumes, accessories and kidswear share the floor, and a private salon is set aside for bridal appointments.
The ELIE SAAB façade at DLF Emporio, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
Two moods in the window
The windows make the case quickly. On the left stand three looks in black: a long-sleeved lace column with a high collar, a sheer kaftan printed in red and black over a black slip, and a deep-V gown pieced together from lace panels. On the right, a red jumpsuit with wide, fluid sleeves and a jewelled clasp at the neckline sits beside a black dress crossed by a single white band at the shoulders. This is evening dressing, and it reads clearly from across the concourse.
On the rails
Inside, the ready-to-wear speaks the House's language fluently. Long navy dresses are scattered with printed blossoms. A blush tulle gown is embroidered with appliquéd petals. Pleated skirts come in stripes of sand and black, and a strapless black ballgown in corded lace is finished with a slim gold belt. A pair of jeans hangs among the silks, a reminder that the House dresses its clients for the daytime too.
Pieces from the ELIE SAAB Maison collection lend the boutique the ease of a private drawing room.
The furniture is from ELIE SAAB Maison, the interiors line designed with the Italian architect Carlo Colombo and made in Italy. A channel-tufted sofa in mustard velvet faces a bouclé armchair across a pair of bronze side tables, all set on a saffron rug. It is a comfortable room, the kind where a mother settles in while her daughter tries on the next look.
Behind the bronze door
The real point of the store sits behind a bronze doorframe. In the private salon, two bridal gowns stand against panels of painted tropical foliage. One is in ivory guipure lace with a long, sweeping train; the other is a strapless gown in sheer tulle, worked in a fine grid.
Outside the salon, the rails move through blush and nude: draped chiffon capes, cut-work lace columns, pleated chiffon and a wrap top fastened with a jewelled brooch. Across the floor, black and silver dresses patterned with laser-cut circles add some edge to the evening offer. A Delhi bride's wardrobe runs to several looks, and this salon gives her room to try them in private, by appointment.
Why Delhi, why now
Delhi has always dressed for the occasion. This is a city shaped by courtly tradition, where the Mughal karkhanas once produced zardozi and fine embroidery for the imperial court, and where the lanes of Chandni Chowk still trade in silks, brocades and gold thread. Craft here is a living inheritance, passed down through families of artisans and worn with pride at every celebration.
It is also India's couture capital. India Couture Week has long made Delhi its home, and the city's designers have built a vocabulary of hand embroidery, rich surface work and lavish evening dressing. Elie Saab, with his beading, lace and embroidered tulle, speaks that same language.
Above all, Delhi celebrates. The wedding season fills the calendar from autumn to spring, and a family wedding unfolds over several days, each function with its own look: the mehendi, the sangeet, the ceremony, the reception. Women here plan these wardrobes with the eye of a collector, pairing heirloom textiles with international eveningwear and dressing for the grand entrance every time.
For a House built on bridal gowns, embroidery and unforgettable entrances, the match is a natural one. Delhi brings the culture of ceremony; Elie Saab brings the couture. The boutique at DLF Emporio is where the two meet.
A House built on occasions
Elie Saab founded his atelier in Beirut in 1982, at the age of eighteen. Queen Rania of Jordan wore his work for her enthronement in 1999. Halle Berry wore one of his gowns to win her Oscar in 2002, and the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture invited him to join a year later.
The red carpet record speaks for itself. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan chose black lace Elie Saab couture at Cannes in 2013. Sonam Kapoor opened Cannes 2017 in a custom millennial-pink gown with silver appliqués inspired by coral. At the Red Sea International Film Festival, Alia Bhatt accepted the inaugural Golden Globe Horizon Award in Elie Saab Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2025/26, styled by Rhea Kapoor and Shereen Lovebug.
The business case belongs to Elie Saab Jr., the founder's son, who runs the group as Vice Chairman and CEO. In January, the House announced Signature Residences by ELIE SAAB with M3M India and Smartworld Developers, in Gurugram and Noida, its first branded homes in the country. At that launch, he told reporters that a ready-to-wear store in Delhi would follow. It arrived within the year.
Delhi now takes its place on a map that includes Paris, Beirut, London, New York, Milan, Monaco, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. For the city's brides, the shopping trip to Dubai just got a great deal shorter.
TO BE CONTINUED, FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
This is where the surface ends and the reporting begins.
The complete piece, the full archive, and access to The French Press Circle. Reporting answerable only to its readers.
Already a subscriber ?
Login
Read these on the house, with our compliments.
A selection from the current issue, open to all readers. Read them in full. The rest is one decision away.