Ливандық сәнгер Реем Акраның өмірі мен шығармашылығы

Lebanese fashion designer

Reem Acra (Arabic: ريم عكرا) is a fashion designer born in Beirut, Lebanon, known for her eponymous bridal gown line and her ready to wear collection.

Reem Acra studied at the American University of Beirut, where her parents both worked. Her mother, Nadia, worked in the family medicine department, and her father, Aftim, was a prominent and distinguished academic, professor, public health expert, and an amber collector. She grew up with three brothers, Michael, Fadi, and Sari, in Beirut. While a teenager, she joined the fashion club at the American University in Beirut where she graduated in 1982 with a business degree. She held a fashion show in June 1982 that attracted 2,000 people. In 1986, she graduated magna cum laude from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and won the Fashion Design Department’s award for her year. After graduating from FIT, Acra studied at the École Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode design school in Paris. After her studies at ESMOD in Paris, Acra took mainstream fashion design positions in Hong Kong and Taiwan. At the age of 25 she was overseeing a $30 million project, but left after seven years to start her own line in New York.

Acra's home in New York City is a 3,200 square foot loft in the Garment District, Manhattan. A New York magazine profile of Acra's apartment describes it as featuring: " [a] striking photograph by Ruven Afanador part of an ad campaign for Acra’s bridal business; she enlarged it and let it take over a wall, transforming the image into a piece of art. A table was fashioned from blocks of resin that contain delicate pieces of sequin embroidered lace that Acra used in her first bridal designs, an idea inspired by her father’s collection of amber. In addition to her New York City loft, Acra bought and renovated a 2,400 square foot apartment in the husk of a bombed out, 19th century building in Saifi Village near downtown Beirut. A Wall Street Journal story on the apartment characterizes it as having minimal furnishings and bold colors. "I didn't want to overwhelm the place with things," Acra told a reporter for the story. Acra also has sponsored FEI's annual Best Athlete award. Acra has designed gowns for the winners of her namesake Reem Acra Athlete of the Year award winners Adelinde Cornelissen and Charlotte Dujardin.