He is the first Arab to be admitted to the fashion industry’s governing body, Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. As of March 2017, his couture collections are available in Paris, London, and Beirut, while his ready-to-wear clothes were in 160 retailers and his own boutiques. Kate Middleton wore a Saab gown to the Royal Ascot in 2019, marking the first occasion where Saab has dressed a British royal.

Elie Saab is the eldest son of a wood merchant who raised five children in Damour, a southern coastal Beirut suburb. Born to Maronite Catholic parents in Beirut, Saab began sewing as a child. At the age of eight, his attention had turned to fashion. With his sisters serving as models, he would cut patterns out of newspaper and search his mother's closet for materials.

In 1981, Saab moved to Paris to study fashion. He later dropped out to return to Beirut and open his fashion label. At first his atelier specialized in bridal couture, making wedding dresses and gowns using expensive fabrics, lace, detailed embroidery, pearls, crystals and silk threads. In Beirut his reputation grew from dressing women in his neighborhood, and was soon enhanced by high society women sporting his designs.

In 1997, Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, and in 1997 he showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome.

In 1998, he started his ready-to-wear line in Milan, as well as an accessories line. Later that year Elie Saab signed a contract with Beauté Prestige International for fragrance and cosmetics. During the same year, Saab held a fashion show in Monaco, with Princess Stéphanie of Monaco in attendance.

In 1999, one of his dresses thickly embroidered with emeralds and diamonds was reportedly sold for $2.4 million

Saab became more well known in the United States after he became the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner, Halle Berry, in 2002. In May 2003, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture invited him to become a member, and he showed his first haute couture collection in Paris in July 2003. The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture inducted him as a membre correspondant in 2006. In 2010, Saab dressed 102 celebrities for events overall, up from 40 in 2009. In 2011, Madame Tussauds unveiled a wax statue of Kate Winslet draped in the Elie Saab dress she wore at 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Kate Middleton wore an Elie Saab gown while attending the 2019 Royal Ascot with her husband, Prince William. This was the first time one of Saab's gowns was worn by a British royal.

Elie Saab's style is a unique fusion of western and eastern culture. He uses noble materials such as taffeta, organza, and satin paired with more fluid and light fabrics.

According to en.wikipedia.org