American fashion designer, Ann Lowe, is person to remember, as we steady ourselves and steer toward positivity and empowerment during this Black History Month.
Ann Lowe was a designer extraordinaire.
Ann Lowe’s mother, Janie Cole, was an enslaved woman in America. And, she was also a talented dressmaker who taught her daughter, how to expertly sew.
Ann absorbed her mother’s sewing lessons and went on to further her talents in New York, attending the S.T. Taylor School of Design, where she was the only Black student and was segregated from her classmates.
Eventually, Ann Lowe’s notable designs led her to designing dresses for wealthy white society women and their families. One of the most famous of those wealthy white women, was Jacqueline Bouvier. Ann Lowe designed her wedding gown when she married John F. Kennedy.
Yet, Ann Lowe was not given the due professional credit she earned for designing and making the wedding gown worn by Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Sadly, Ann Lowe was only referred to as a “colored” dressmaker when reporters asked Kennedy, who designed her famous 1953 wedding gown. We state with pride, the bride wore, Ann Lowe.
Ann Lowe. A name to know.