Without the Black designer Ann Lowe, Jacqueline Kennedy and generations of wealthy, socially prominent white women from the 1920s through the 1940s remembered for their elegant and regal glamour, may not have ever been known for their style.
Lowe, who created one-of-a-kind fashions for the social elite, including the Roosevelts, the DuPonts, the Whitneys, Hollywood starlets, and more, is arguably one of the most influential American designers of the 20th century, yet she remains largely unknown.
Though she received her biggest public break designing the wedding dress for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1953 (which she had to completely remake in just ten days after a flood destroyed her shop), Lowe’s story began in Alabama. Born in 1898 into a family of highly skilled seamstresses who developed their expertise while enslaved, she would eventually go on to enroll in a segregated design school in New York.
Admitted by mistake, the school didn’t realize she was Black until she arrived. She was quickly segregated from the other students and forced into isolation, only for her prowess and talent to speak for themselves. Her work was even used to teach other students. She graduated early, in roughly half the time, because she was so advanced and went on to design ornate ball gowns and evening wear that featured highly structured silhouettes and romantic, feminine touches for the highest levels of society.
She even designed the gown Olivia de Havilland wore to the 1946 Academy Awards, while rarely receiving any credit.
At a time when much of the nation’s finest dressmaking was done by Black seamstresses, it was not customary to name or celebrate them. For generations, from slavery onward, Black women crafted the wardrobes of America’s most powerful and fashionable families, while often remaining invisible. She earned herself the reputation as “society’s best kept secret.”
Eventually, Lowe began making a real name for herself. She designed for Saks Fifth Avenue and other major department stores, while she also opened multiple shops of her own. She did face financial hardship, losing one salon after filing for bankruptcy in 1963, before retiring in 1972. Lowe died in 1981 at age 82, and in the decades since, her legacy continues to be unearthed.
In 2023, Elizabeth Way, associate curator of costume at the Museum at FIT, published “Ann Lowe: American Couturier,” a definitive illustrated volume on Lowe’s life and work. The book accompanied the largest exhibition ever devoted to her designs at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library.
“As a designer, Lowe was prolific and impactful,” Way told the Financial Times. “The women who wore her gowns were admired and in the public eye, inspiring wider trends. Most of her designs were for traditional events, yet within the conventions of these conservative occasions, she was innovative. Her work is meticulously crafted in an artisanal tradition handed down from an extraordinary lineage of Black American women.”
Her story is also headed to the big screen. In 2022, author Piper Huguley released “By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register.” The book is being adapted into a film titled “The Dress,” produced by Serena Williams and Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter. The project, which centers on Lowe’s creation of Kennedy’s wedding gown, was acquired by Sony TriStar in 2023, though no further updates have been announced.
