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Whimsical Wedding with Reem Acra

Think getting married is a solemn and staid affair, and a traditional white gown the only option? For brides looking for a gown with more whimsy and character than the average off-the-rack number, Reem Acra is the designer to seek out.

Each season, Acra invents a charming new narrative for her bridal collection, with memorable gowns that offer a unique vision for the big day.

"This collection is about looking 20 years down the road," said Acra at the presentation for her Spring 2009 bridal collection on Sunday, April 13 at her New York showroom. "It's about the future. What's going to happen to my dresses? The young girls are going to go into their mother's closet and play with them. It's about having fun!"

To that end, models were placed in various tableaux vivant, where they had tea parties, lounged on furniture, played with dolls or simply smiled with a mischievous gleam in their eyes, as though they were girls who had just raided the attic were playing dress-up, as Edith Piaf's voice filled the room. In Acra's program notes, dresses referred to characters like Alice in Wonderland, Raggedy Ann, Strawberry Shortcake and Sleeping Beauty.

Acra took inspiration from her own closet, she said, from her personal collection of vintage clothing. And even one of Acra's earliest gowns, her first design from 1996, was on display with a pint-sized bride and groom snacking on lollipops.

Acra does not shy away from bold color in her collections, and for Spring 2009, the gowns featured pops of color layered over the white gowns, like sheer teal sleeves, a red gingham apron/frock, a circular yellow and black polka-dot skirt over another, or a red yarn wrap. The message was clear: Have fun and don't take anything too seriously.

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