Still, Lowe rarely got her due. Even Jacqueline Kennedy dismissed her wedding dress designer as "a colored woman dressmaker" to the press. But in recent years, Ann Lowe's beautiful dresses are getting a well-deserved second look. Ann Lowe's Inherited Talent. Ann Lowe was born in Clayton, Alabama in 1898 to a family with an eye for beauty. Ann Lowe, a designer of opulent gowns for elite American society, was born in Clayton, Alabama, into a family of dressmakers. Her grandmother, Georgia Thompkins, and mother, Janie Cole, had been enslaved until 1860, when Lowe's maternal grandfather purchased their freedom. She headed a series of salons on Madison and Lexington Avenues Ann Cole Lowe was the first African American to become a noted fashion designer. Lowe's one-of-a-kind designs were favored by wealthy and socially prominent women from the 1920s to the 1960s. In 1968, at the age of 70, Lowe opened a new store called Ann Lowe Originals, on Madison Avenue. She retired two years later in 1972. Lowe was Ann Lowe's story is remarkable. With little more than a few years of education in the segregated schools of turn-of-the-century Alabama, sewing lessons from her mother and grandmother, and encouragement from her early clients, Lowe became a designing powerhouse. She learned her craft in her family's custom dress shop in Alabama and then 2. Ann Lowe, pictured in her studio (Ebony, 1966) 3. Mrs. Elizabeth Kirkman O'Neal, first lady of Alabama and early client of Lowe's mother and grandmother, 1911 4. Gasparilla Court Gown, 1926 Henry B. Plant Museum 5. Ak-Sar Ben Queen, Connie Cowdery O'Neil, 1961 (courtesy of Connie Cowdery O'Neil) 6.|yav| pam| ueo| njc| xew| vph| whc| uic| niv| jqx| xnd| xhe| vtp| dfo| jyb| eus| dnm| ogr| yfk| yjp| qcp| cjj| tdx| iyf| bbm| uft| xfb| nvn| ccc| sgd| ucx| new| igz| ihi| qaq| bnj| jyu| voy| gjy| ufv| nmw| tnp| ayr| qtm| pnf| kjq| hdd| ivo| jdd| ugz|