You can't have eveningwear without having fantasy. For Spring, Reem Acra wove a tale that began in the attic of a royal castle, the kind of magically cobwebbed place where one might chance upon a forgotten stash of silks and gems.
The clothes that spun off from Acra's fairy-tale concept were more Taj Mahal than Buckingham Palace. There was serious electric color here—turquoise, aqua, tangerine, and flamingo pink—and a pirate's plunder of jeweled beading. Silhouettes ran the gamut. For every shoulder-baring, body-skimming gown, there was a covered-up dupioni tunic and ball skirt for the mother of the rani.
But Acra, a veteran of the bridal business, has experience enough not to lose touch with reality, or the real-world needs of clients. Among the chapters in her storybook was a plain-but-pretty tan jersey column and a relatively simple breezy lemon-chiffon frock. The collection had its moments of overexuberant volume, and one "Huh?" moment with a boldly striped black-and-white pantsuit. Well, you never know what you'll find in the attic.
