NEED TO KNOW
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Reem Acra has been awarded $39 million more than a decade after her New York design studio was ruined in a fire
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According to a lawsuit, more than 2,000 of her designer dresses “had smoke and soot damage”
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Acra’s clientele consisted of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden
Fashion designer Reem Acra has been awarded $39 million by the New York Supreme Court after a 2014 fire near her studio ruined approximately 2,000 of her dresses.
PEOPLE obtained a copy of the lawsuit, which states that Acra’s Reem Bridals had its principal design and production facility on the seventh floor of 240 West 35th Street in Manhattan.
Founded in 1997, her debut collection went on to be covered by the New York Times and carried by international retailers such as Harrods of London.
Acra’s dresses were also worn by high-profile clients such as Beyoncé, Olivia Wilde, and Taylor Swift early in her career; and at the inaugurations [of] Jill Biden, Melania Trump and Usha Vance.
Stewart Cook/CBS via Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Antoine Gyori – Corbis/Corbis via Getty
The filing stated that Chetrit and Cornell Realty purchased the West 34 Street property intending to build a seventeen-story, mixed-use building. It lists MJR Construction Services and Marge NY as the companies contracted to do that demolition work.
“On March 27, 2014, two workers from MJR, Marge and/or North True Construction Management were using blow torches to cut through supporting I-beams just below the roof of the two-story building. A fire broke out, with dozens of fire trucks and a 100 firefighters responding to the scene,” the lawsuit stated.
During a previous trial, Fire marshal John Orlando and Michael Russo of TJ Russo Consultants testified “how smoke from the fire spread into the upper floors” spread into Acra’s studio.
Robert Schlicht, an insurance adjuster with Assurance Company of America, testified in March 2024 that he “smelled smoke and saw soot damage” at Acra’s business.
“Mr. Schlicht took photos of the dresses and fabrics, testifying that ‘There was an odor to the fabric and on the dresses,’ ” the lawsuit stated, adding that, “patterns had smoke and soot damage.”
Schlicht retained two companies to look “at all 2,400” dresses in order “to do an inventory of the fabrics, to assess the damage, and to provide pricing.”
In the lawsuit, Acra claimed, “These dresses are very unique. The original that I design, these are one of a kind handmade in the United States, New York City, they are a creation, not just a regular dress.”
A Miss Universe contestant in 2010 wore a $110,000 Reem Bridals dress, the lawsuit said.
Documentation stated that cleaning the garments damaged in the March 2014 fire would have cost 2.1 million dollars, and the challenges of cleaning these one-of-kind dresses were significant.
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Acra also testified that since 1997, she has never dry cleaned one of her dresses, making the situation a total loss for her as none of her 2,340 designs were salvageable.
“Well, you know, dresses like this are not really made for dry cleaning,” she said. “When you using silk or handmade things with ruffles and beading, number one they would, could get oxidized. Two the silk will kind of fall down and get damaged . . . And it is impossible for anyone– I could not sell them no matter how.”
The amount she was owed was determined by “an item-by-item analysis of the loss as well as invoices for fabrics, lace, sequins etc.,” Schlicht said.
Additionally, the average price for Acra’s wedding gowns and dresses for 2012 and 2013 came to $8,335; which multiplied by the archive’s 2,340 items yields $19,503,90, court documents stated.
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However, attorneys for Acra said “the prices of the gowns and dresses could go into six figures,” citing in one example a “December 23, 2013 invoice for a $250,000 wedding dress, with $12,500 and $30,000 each for the bridesmaids” and that the aforementioned price from the insurance adjustor “excluded … the cost of putting on fashion shows and public relations.”
Her losses also included “multiple other components inside the Design Studio that had to be discarded, including significant work in progress, historical patterns, hundreds of new pairs of shoes, expensive handmade imported embroidery, intricate handmade bridal veils, accessories and vintage dresses, to name a few.”
Reps for Acra did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Read the original article on People
