Watch: Ann Lowe was fashion’s best kept secret
TheGrio commemorates one of fashion’s most influential and underappreciated, the innovative and decadent designer Ann Lowe in the latest edition of "Keeping Black History Alive."
Born in Clayton, Alabama, in 1898, Ann Lowe inherited a passion for dressmaking from her mother and formerly enslaved grandmother, Georgia Thompkins.
After her mother’s death, Lowe took over her mother’s unfinished assignments and the family business of dressmaking. She later moved to Florida to work for elite clientele before honing her skills at New York’s Taylor School of Design, where she sat in segregated classrooms.
In 1950, Lowe opened her own stand-alone business, “Ann Lowe’s Gowns” before designing Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress in 1953. High society pages applauded the dress but failed to mention the designer, with Lowe later being dubbed “Society’s Best Kept Secret.”
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