Acra was born in Lebanon, and studied her craft in both Paris, at Esmod Ecole de Mode of Design, and New York, at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She won many designing awards at both schools, launching her into a fashion career.



It pays to have friends in high places. After a friend wore one of her early bridal designs at her wedding, and the attention it received helped her start her own company in 1995, and she launched her first bridal designs in 1997. Her fashion house in Manhattan is known as one of the top bridal salons in the world.

Acra's style is renowned for her use of embroidery, which sets her apart from most other wedding gown designers, along with intricate beading and the use of a lot of silk. She loves rich colors and anything handmade, and one can easily tell that she loves fashion. Her fashion is sometimes considered the opposite of Vera Wang's in that she tends to be more traditional with modern flare, whereas Vera Wang starts off modern then adds touches of tradition on the back end.

One of her most popular bridal lines uses small Swarovski crystals and seed pearls to perfection. Because of the intricacy of her designs, wedding dresses can take longer to make, which of course means they'll generally cost more. Her prices usually start around $4,000.00 and go up from there, and even resale values of preowned dresses often go for over $3,000.

Reem Acra's wedding gowns have been worn by many top celebrities. Some of the names include Marcia Cross, Star Jones, Jennie Garth and Katey Sagal. Her other designs have been popular with actresses such as Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie.

Strangely enough, Acra is also well known for creating a specialty wedding dress design for Barbie, which, at around $180, was the most expensive Barbie accessory in history, but also one of the most sought after items.

At her live bridal show in April 2009, she exhibited a bridal line that she stated was fairy tale inspired, with wedding dresses having names like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin, a gown which was embroidered with whimsical flowers, and Cinderella, which was a pale blue silk with gold silkscreened embellishments.

Reem Acra is a designer with a great flair and an eye for both color and detail. It's no wonder that she's one of the top wedding gown designers in the world today.