There is a reason why so many fashion shows end with a model wearing a wedding dress. Wedding dresses allow designers to delve deeper into using their artistry, creativity, and finely-honed technique into creating something truly beautiful and aspirational.
Whether happily single or someone who got married wearing a Juicy tracksuit, we can’t help but be drawn to wedding dresses. Many wedding dresses worn by famous people are completely iconic. There was Princess Diana’s puff pastry of wedding dress, which defined the over-the-top excess of the 1980s. And Caroline Bessette Kennedy’s spare, figure-hugging slip dress spoke of the 1990s minimalism style. And then there is my favorite famous wedding dress, the one Grace Kelly wore when she went from Hollywood royalty to actual royalty and became Princess Grace of Monaco.
One iconic wedding dress is the one worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married then Senator John Kennedy. Though the dress is easily recognizable even to people who are not followers of fashion, the designer of the dress isn’t as well-known. The designer was Ann Lowe, a black woman. Lowe never quite got her due from the press at the time of Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy’s nuptial’s. One publication refused to name her, and dismissively called her a “colored dressmaker.” Ann Lowe deserves so much more. And with Piper Huguley’s latest book on Ann Lowe’s life, By Her Own Design: A Novel of Ann Lowe, Fashion Designer to the Social Register, this talented woman is finally getting her flowers.
As By Her Own Design begins, Ann Lowe is facing quite the challenge. A pipe has burst in her New York studio. Jaqueline Bouvier’s dress has been ruined just as she’s about to become Mrs. John Kennedy. Many of the bridesmaids’ dresses have also been damaged. Though completely horrified, Lowe has faced many challenges. She knows she can remake the dresses, and enlists her beloved sister, Sallie, and her friends from a local church to help her repair and make the dresses over in time for the wedding. Lowe will not be deterred. As she begins her work, Lowe muses on her life, and how she got to this point in time.
Ann Lowe grew up in the Jim Crow South. She was raised by her loving mother and grandmother (her father was never really in the picture). Both of these ladies worked as seamstresses. They mentored and taught young Ann on sewing skills and design techniques. But Ann had a God-given talent that went beyond hemming a dress or sewing a button on a blouse. Ann was a creative visionary from the start. She was designing beautifully intricate fabric flowers when she was still in knee-socks.
Despite being smart, industrious, and artistic, Lowe never went far in getting a formal education. She never went to high school. Instead, she married a much older man when she was only twelve (only twelve, yikes), and had her beloved son, Arthur, when she was only sixteen. The marriage was not a happy one. Lowe’s husband was very abusive, and fortunately she was able to escape and get a divorce. She did marry again to a much more suitably aged man when she was a bit older.
Lowe never gave up her dream of designer and creating fashion, and always worked as a seamstress. Her work and talent got noticed, and soon she was designing clothing for upper crust women. She moved to Tampa for a while, where she was quite successful. A very generous benefactor believed so much in Lowe and paid for Lowe to be educated about fashion design at a school in New York City. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn and make connections in the the Big Apple’s fashion industry, but sadly, Lowe faced the same bigotry and racism she dealt with in the South. She was even segregated into a separate room from the white students during the lessons. Still, Lowe was one strong dame, and she made the most of what could have been a very negative situation.
Lowe decided to make her home base and her livelihood in New York. She beautiful designs caught the fancy of the very wealthy and elite becoming a very in demand couturier for the ladies of the Social Register. Even Hollywood movie stars wanted to wear Lowe’s designs. Olivia de Havilland wore one of Lowe’s gorgeous gowns when she accepted and Oscar for her role in “To Each His Own.”
Lowe was soon commissioned to make a dress for one young woman’s debut. That young woman was Jacqueline Bouvier. Lowe grew very fond of Jacqueline, and the two grew close. So it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Jacqueline asked Lowe to design and make her wedding dress. And though Lowe faced some challenges in the end, Jacqueline married Senator Kennedy looking stunning in Lowe’s beautiful creation.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading By Her Own Design. I learned so much about the talented Ann Lowe and why she’s so important in the world of American fashion, and why it’s so upsetting her work has been ignored for far too long. Huguley’s dialogue and story-telling are top notch, and she really gets into the spirit of Anne Lowe (and she brings Jackie Kennedy to life). She makes you cheer for Lowe’s success, and at the same time doesn’t sugar coat the obstacles and tragedies Lowe faced-racism, sexism, domestic abuse, the loss of her loved ones, money troubles, and health woes.
I want more people to know about Ann Lowe and her fashion legacy. Perhaps Netflix could do a movie or limited series on Lowe’s life. I believe By Her Own Design is the perfect springboard to make this happen.
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