REEM ACRA AW15’16 READY-TO-WEAR NEW YORK FASHION WEEK

For designers like Reem Acra, fashion week might’ve fallen a little too close to the Oscars this year. (The awards season’s defining red carpet will be rolled out this Sunday.) Acra’s Fall dresses were already on a plane to Los Angeles just hours after her Monday night runway show. The hope, presumably, is that a star will make one of them hers for the evening.

The good news for Acra is that there was plenty for the picking. The designer began the season by referencing Stevie Nicks’ Polaroid self-portraits from the mid-’70s. “They’re unbelievable,” Acra said backstage before the show, eyes glimmering with inspiration. “[Nicks] is a woman that I relate to. When I started putting things together, it came easy. I didn’t have to think about it too much.”

And you didn’t have to try hard to like these looks. Acra started things off short and sweet with a high-neck silver-beaded number, worn under an embroidered blush pink mink coat. (The fur looked like velvet.) An asymmetrical sheer embroidered skirt and matching blouse were paired with a faille silk jacket, which was tied at the waist with an emerald-colored velvet string. Embroidered velvet cape coats topped little lace numbers, and feathers decorated the shoulders of a green velvet peasant dress. As for the gowns, it was all about the high necks and bejeweling. A body-skimming lace style was embroidered with silver sequins, its intricate beading arranged thoughtfully on a sheer panel traveling down the front. The final look, a long-sleeved white lace gown with a cape back, was the right idea for an equally boho starlet. (Hopefully Kate Hudson’s stylist is reading this.)

Acra used the word “magical” when describing this collection, and there was something bewitching about it. Not unlike Nicks.