Another Lesson In Black History…Did You Know An African American Designer Designed A Wedding Dress For The First Lady In 1953…

Another hidden gem in African American History was Ann Lowe a woman who made Fashion History that many people never even knew about.

Ms. Lowe was born in Clayton, Alabama in 1898. She was the daughter and granddaughter of seamstresses who were known for creating dresses for the first ladies of Alabama. Lowe’s mother passed away when she was just 16, forcing her to complete her mother’s unfinished work for the governor’s wife.

Lowe enrolled in S.T. Taylor Design School in New York, where she was ignored and avoided by her white classmates which forced her to concentrate solely on her work. She eventually opened up her own studio after moving to Tampa, Florida. After her return to New York, she worked for a well-known designer in some of the major houses in the Fashion District. The houses took all the credit, and never gave her any recognition for the work she did. Not letting that stop her, she kept going toward her dream and soon she became a top designer to society’s prestigious families, such as the du Ponts, Roosevelts, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and notably, she designed and made the gown actress Olivia de Haviland wore when she received her Oscar for “To Each His Own.”

All of her hard work and dedication paid off when she was called to design the wedding dress for Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953, where she married John F. Kennedy. Lowe was also called to make the 10 pink bridesmaid’s gowns and hats. Bouvier’s wedding had received high recognition and as usual, the designer’s name was left out of most newspapers. Nina Hyde, social, fashion editor of the Washington Post at the time, stated “… the dress was designed by a Negro, Ann Lowe.”

Though her health deteriorated over the years and she lost an eye to glaucoma. This did not stop her from doing what she loved, designing dresses. In her 70′s, Lowe opened a store inside Saks Fifth Ave, then her own salon, self-titled Anne Lowe Originals, on Madison Ave, where she created over 2,000 dresses for New York’s society. Lowe was awarded the Couturier of the Year Plaque and appeared in the National Social Directory and 1968 Who’s Who of American Women.

Ms. Lowe died in 1981 at the age of 83. She was known for her trapunto work and detailed needle technique. Her fashions can be seen in a permanent collection at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Washington D.C.’s Black Fashion Museum, and the Smithsonian. In 1997, the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum had the Textile Conservation Center of the American Textile History Museum in Massachusetts to restore the Kennedy gown.

If you’re interested in learning more about Anne Lowe and other notable African American fashion mavericks check out “Threads of Time, The Fabric of History: Profiles of African American Dressmakers and Designers, 1850 to Present,” by Rosemary Reed Miller.

“Ann Lowe was known as society’s best-kept secret…You would have thought her clothing was Parisian couture, but she charged much less to create the same thing. They all went to her for their debutante balls and weddings.”
-Michael Henry Adams