Many of the most beautiful pieces from Reem Acra’s pre-fall collection—like the silver boatneck sleeveless gown blinged out with crystals and pearls and the strapless satin number in an eye-catching metallic floral finished with a cascading train—are in Los Angeles, sent by the designer to celebrity stylists ahead of the busy awards season that’s currently underway. It will be a while until those designs hit the red carpet, though, as the wildfires in California have put a pause on any festivities there.
This season the designer was thinking of her homeland of Lebanon and its neighboring countries for inspiration. “I was inspired by the desert rose because I went to the Middle East just before this collection,” she explained. “So you see lots of delicate and fragile flowers, a little bit of lace, all set against dark colors, from black and gold, to showcase the stark beauty of the desert landscape against the resilient flora.” There, her best-selling silhouettes are loose-fitting caftans that certainly differ from Europe and America’s taste for the more overtly formfitting and sexy, but they certainly don’t lack for glamour.
