This Style History has been a long time in the making. (It’s bizarrely difficult to find photos of her work with CC licenses.) Ann Lowe has a fascinating history in design, and sadly she has only come to mainstream attention since the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020. You may know her as the person who designed and created Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding dress for her 1953 wedding to John F. Kennedy, Jr. However, her career was so much more than that one moment. Today we are going to explore the style history of Ann Lowe,
Ann Lowe’s Early Life
Lowe has quite a different lineage than many of the other designers that I have profiled. The great-granddaughter of a slave and a plantation owner, she was born in Clayton, Alabama in 1898. Both her mother and her grandmother were seamstresses, and she quickly learned dress-making- they both were popular with society women in Alabama, and dressed many notable woman in the community. When Lowe’s mother died when she was 16, she took over several of her clients. Her mother had been working on several gowns for the Governor of Alabama’s wife, and in completing her order, she cemented her own status as a designer.
Establishing Her Business
Although Lowe married Lee Cohen in 1912, she took their son, Arthur Lee, and left him in 1917 when he wanted her to give up her work as a seamstress. She moved to Florida to design a high-profile wedding dress, and ended up being a personal designer for a socialite for several years. Lowe moved to New York for a time to take dress-making courses- because the school was still segregated, she had to take all of her classes alone. After graduating in 1919, she opened her first salon in Tampa, Florida, and quickly became a society favourite.
Making It Big in New York
Lowe permanently moved to New York City in 1928, after saving $20,000. She worked for a number of designers, including Henri Bendel, Chez Sonia, and Saks Fifth Avenue, although her name did not appear on those garments. Lowe designed the gown that actress Olivia de Havilland wore to accept the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946, but her name wasn’t on that gown, either. In 1950, Lowe and her son opened “Ann Lowe’s Gowns” on Lexington Avenue, where she was able to sell all of her designs under her own name. According to the FIT Fashion History Timeline,
Lowe’s client network was integral to her success. She became famous among the wealthy American elite for her one-of-a-kind gowns made of fine fabric and handiwork, often evoking floral motifs. Lowe specialized in debutante gowns, and pleased clients would return to her for their wedding dresses.
Jacqueline Bouvier’s Wedding
As I said above, if you do recognise Lowe’s work, it is probably Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding dress when she married into the Kennedy family. (The history of Ann Lowe is arguably incomplete without it!) She had already been designing for the family, and she was commissioned to create Jackie’s wedding dress, as well as the mother-of-the-bride dress, and twelve bridesmaids’ dresses. Just 10 days before the wedding, a pipe burst in her salon and all of the gowns that were created over two months had to be remade in a little over a week. Although this gown is still one of the most iconic wedding gowns of all time, Lowe’s name was not published as the designer until much later.
This essay from FIT explains the issues with the dress (through no fault of Lowe):
The truth was that through no fault of Lowe’s, the magnificent wedding dress was not Jacqueline’s taste. In fact, the same could likely be said of many elements of her wedding. Unlike Jack Kennedy and his father, Jacqueline was a “quiet, reserved woman” who “disliked the spotlight of public life” (“Kennedy, Jacqueline”). However, Jack’s father was the “architect” of their lives, and planned the ceremony as a propaganda event rather than something private or sacred (Mulvaney).
The wedding dress of Jacqueline’s dreams was not one of an American Dream, and thus, Joseph could not allow it (Martin). Jacqueline favored French designers and modern simplicity, which directly opposed Joseph’s desired statement of romanticism and post-war prosperity. Of course, Jacqueline capitulated. However, she felt the dress didn’t flatter her small frame…
Later Difficulties
It is true that Lowe was incredibly popular with many influential clients. However, those clients often refused to pay her anywhere close to what they would pay a white designer, and she was often barely breaking even after paying her staff. Her son, who was also her business partner, died in a car accident in 1958, and Lowe struggled immensely afterwards. She was named Couturier of the Year in 1961, but then lost her salon in 1962 after failing to pay taxes and in the same year had to have her right eye removed because of glaucoma. After an anonymous donor paid off her debts, she started working again but had to declare bankruptcy in 1964 and was forced to have cataract surgery on her left eye. She did open a new store in 1968, but had to close permanently in 1972. Lowe died in 1981 at the age of 82.
Further Readings
There isn’t a lot written specifically on Ann Lowe, unfortunately. I am hoping that we will see a full length biography of her in the coming years!
1898-1981- Ann Lowe- Fashion History Timeline
https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1898-1981-ann-lowe/
- There is a fantastic bibliography at the bottom of this timeline, and I would recommend mining it yourself!
1953 – Ann Lowe, Jacqueline Kennedy’s Wedding Dress
https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1953-lowe-kennedy-wedding-dress/
♠
Note: A massive thank you to Dr. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Dr. Justine de Young, and Caroleen Molenaar on Twitter for suggestions on finding images- your help has been invaluable.
If you are interested in reading some of my other Style History profiles, you can find them below:
What do you know of the style history of Ann Lowe?
Cheers,
The Historian
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I am pleased to hear that her works are being acknowledged. She as so many earlier African American fashion designers, who have “left out” of the industry, are finally being “noticed” for their amazing contributions.
She was an incredibly talented designer! I am so happy that more and more museums and collections are recognising these designers for their contributions and bodies of work
What a lovely post – thank you so much for telling Ann’s story. Amazing that she designed dresses for some of the most well-known women of the time, and her story isn’t equally as well known. Loved this.
I’m just shocked that more people haven’t- her work is INCREDIBLE 😍 Some historians think that it was Jackie who paid her debts anonymously, but to think that she wasn’t given credit for that wedding dress?? I hope more people come to know her work! 😊