NEW YORK, June 15, 2011-This fall, famed Lebanese couturier Elie Saab reveals his first fragrance for women – ELIE SAAB Le Parfum. Created in partnership with Beaute Prestige International, the Paris-based subsidiary of Shiseido Co. Ltd., ELIE SAAB Le Parfum celebrates the splendor and brilliance of the radiant femininity which has always inspired him.

Born in Beirut in 1964 to a family with no ties to fashion, he dreamt only of escaping to fantastical faraway lands. He was not yet nine when he created his first dress for his younger sister. The name Elie Saab soon became synonymous with dresses of incredible grace and femininity. At 18, Elie Saab opened his own couture house with more than a dozen seamstresses. Following his first Beirut catwalk show, the country’s golden boy won over the Middle Eastern market, and its wealthy clientele became his faithful followers. Today, his renown shines from Beirut to Los Angeles via Paris’s Golden Triangle where he opened a boutique off the Champs-Elysees in 2007.

Couture is the raison d’etre of the ELIE SAAB fashion house, a passion that has driven the designer for more than 25 years. Naturally instinctual, Elie Saab has an innate sense of cut. He creates directly on the female form, draping fabric on the body without drawing and without patterns.

“I like ‘womanly women,’ women who twirl their dresses with desire and pride,” Elie Saab says. “Ever since my childhood in Lebanon, I’ve examined the way they dress, I’ve always wanted to please them by flattering their curves.”

In 2011, Elie Saab’s universe continues to expand. Following successes in ready-to-wear and accessories and with new boutiques in London and Dubai, he now invites all women who dream of wearing ELIE SAAB to discover ELIE SAAB Le Parfum.

Created by world-renowned perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, ELIE SAAB Le Parfum is based on a floral, solar, woody theme. The first soaring notes of orange blossom set the tone, a solar evocation of Mediterranean petals whose light echoes the sun at its height. The jasmine heart is enriched by the gentle shading of pure patchouli. A white flower bouquet is completed by a cedar woody accord, giving the floral notes new density. Finally, the trail unfurls, borrowing its addictive notes from rose honey.

Always passionate about design and architecture, Elie Saab dreamt of a glass bottle with a pure shape that played on light, brilliance, and transparency.

“I wanted something simple. Straight lines, the rigor of a cube, and the sensation of an object made to be held in the hand, but with the density of beautiful objects,” says Saab. “And as always, light as the overarching theme. For me, light is eternal strength.

Designed by Sylvie de France, the glasswork was pushed to the extremes of precision to create an object of light that reflects Elie Saab’s elegance, a middle ground between the jeweler’s art and the architect’s dream.

The ELIE SAAB Le Parfum fragrance collection (1.0 oz EDP $60.00 USD/1.7 oz EDP – $90.00 USD/3.0 oz EDP – $120.00 USD/6.7 oz Body Lotion – $50.00 USD/6.7 oz Shower Creme – $42.00 USD/5.0 oz Body Creme – $85.00 USD [Saks Fifth Avenue Exclusive]) will be available in the US this September at Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Beaute Prestige International was created in 1992 to augment Shiseido’s fragrance business with the development of new designer fragrance brands. Beginning with Issey Miyake’s L’Eau d’Issey in 1992, the company has slowly and steadily built its brand portfolio to include Jean Paul Gaultier Parfums in 1993, narciso rodriguez parfums in 2003 and ELIE SAAB Parfums in 2011. Today, Beaute Prestige International’s fragrance brands can be found in fine department and specialty stores worldwide. www.bpi-sa.com