Ann Lowe Revisited

Lately, I have been noticing bridesmaid dresses and wedding gowns with three dimensional details and thinking it all looks vaguely familiar. The wedding gown on the right was worn by Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953, the day she married John F Kennedy. Notice the detailing on the skirt of the gown....three dimensional. This dress was designed by African-American fashion designer Ann Lowe. Her customers included the Duponts, Roosevelts, Posts, Biddles, Rockefellers, Auchinclosses, and other families that were listed in the Social Register. They loved her work. She was known as "society's best kept secret," because, of course, no one would admit their clothing was being designed by a black woman.

Many of her designs incorporated floral appliques set on the garment instead of embroidered in the fabric. Olivia deHavilland accepted her 1946 Best Actress Oscar wearing an Ann Lowe creation. The gown was a pale blue strapless gown with floral appliques cascading down the gown. This description could easily describe any number of bridal and bridesmaids dresses for this season. The dress was attributed to Sonia Rosenberg save for Ms. Lowe receiving a small mention in a newspaper article. In here lifetime Ann Lowe received little recognition for her contribution to American fashion. Not to worry though, we can certainly see Ms. Lowe's influence in our contemporary wedding attire.





Mori Lee, Watters and Pronovias designs respectively, all give a huge nod to Ann Lowe's three dimensional design elements. Tell me is this orange dress an Ann Lowe creation or a new tea-length bridesmaid dress on display at a local salon? If imitation is sincerest form of flattery than Ms. Lowe has indeed been given high praise in the world of fashion today. Like so many great artists the worth is not realized until the artist no longer creates.By the way the orange gown is an Ann Lowe design on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.