On Wednesday, Acra opened her first franchise boutique in downtown Beirut — more than a decade after launching her fashion journey with a bridal collection in New York.
"I've always been proud to be of Lebanese origin and today I'm even prouder," Acra said as she stood smiling amid elaborate evening gowns in the gleaming two-story boutique.
"I do not know anything about what is happening ... I'm just excited about the fashion part of Beirut and that's all I know," she said.
A tiny Arab country of 4 million people along the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon has produced an impressive crop of designers. They include Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad, whose work is regularly featured at celebrity events such as the Oscars and the Golden Globes.
The Lebanese have a reputation for being among the most fashion-conscious people in the Middle East — and are extremely liberal about the amount of skin they show.
Downtown Beirut, an area rebuilt over the past two decades from civil war destruction and the place where Acra opened her boutique, is dotted with high-end luxury boutiques such as Gucci, Dior, Vivienne Westwood and Prada.
Like many Lebanese, Acra left Lebanon with her family at the height of the civil war in 1983. But she said she first got her sense of fashion from living in Beirut.
No comments:
Post a Comment