Born: 14 December 1898, United States
Died: 25 February
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Ann Lowe was the first African-American to become a major fashion designer in the modern era, from the 1920s through the 1960s. She was best known for designing Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding dress when she married John F. Kennedy in 1953—or rather, she should have been. Although her work is recognised now, Jackie never publicly credited Lowe for the most talked-about dress of the year. Even though Lowe had been working with the Bouvier family for years, when asked who designed the dress, Jackie reportedly replied “I wanted to go to France, but a coloured dressmaker did it.” The dress, which cost $500 (approximately $5,000 today), was described in detail in The New York Times’s coverage of the wedding, but Lowe’s name was never mentioned. Even worse, she lost money on the project—ten days before the wedding, a pipe burst in her studio, ruining the dress as well as nine others for members of the wedding party. Lowe and her team worked day and night to re-create the masterpieces in a week and a half. She ended up losing $2,200—about $21,000 in today’s currency. Then, when she hand-delivered the gowns in Newport, R.I., she was told to enter through a service entrance in the back. Lowe replied that either the dresses went with her through the front door or they went back with her to New York. Lowe also designed the dress Olivia de Havilland wore to the 1947 Oscars, when she won for Best Actress. The name on the label, however, was Sonia Rosenberg, the store for which Lowe worked at the time.