A lot of folks don’t know that the very dress Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy (then Jacqueline Bouvier) wore on her wedding day when she wed John F. Kennedy was a dress designed by African American designer Ann Cole Lowe (Anne Lowe). This wedding gown was the most publicized dress in American history. Anne was born in Clayton Alabama and was a great granddaughter of a plantation owner and slave. She was a young 14 years of age when she married and attended fashion design school in New York in the early 1900s. She was a businesswoman owning a beauty salon in Tampa, Florida and her fashion boutique Ann Lowe Originals on Madison Avenue in New York City. She designed for several elite New Yorkers in the 1950s and worked at Saks Fifth avenue where she was featured in one of their advertisements. Another highlight of her career was when she designed a gown actress Olivia de Havilland wore to the Academy Awards. Ironically the name on the inside tag of the dress was Sonia Rosenberg. Towards the end of her career she suffered from glaucoma but continued to design for Madeline Couture.
Check out the book “Threads of time: the Fabric of History" by Rosemary E. which gives profiles of African American Designers from 1850 to 1950.
Check out this article for more scoop on Anne Lowe.
No comments:
Post a Comment