For Reem Acra, Pre-Fall isn't a time to reinvent the wheel. Like many others, the designer uses the in-between season to focus on sales by reinterpreting and honing her signature pieces. This time around, Acra zoomed in on cocktail attire, which has recently become a flourishing category for her. She showed a dozen or so knee-length sheaths overlaid with beaded black lace in a range of jewel tones, including fuchsia, emerald, amethyst, ruby, and topaz. Most were very pretty. You could imagine wearing them to a variety of events—your sister's wedding, a black-tie gala, or even a night of drinks and dancing. "There's a dress for every occasion," the designer said at a preview. During the walk-through, Acra was sporting a pair of bejeweled sneakers that would make a daring, youthful statement paired with any of the looks in the aforementioned group.
Ultimately, Acra is best known for her red-carpet regalia, and she delivered on that here as well—just in time for the upcoming awards season. The clear winners were a slim, strapless royal-blue number with a sculptural cascade down one side, as well as several dramatic ball gowns cut from lustrous shantung silk. What set the shantung gowns apart was their relative lack of adornment. Embellishment and glitz remain Acra's hallmarks, but with the spectacular shapes of those occasion numbers, no sequins were necessary.
