You know the dress, but who’s the woman behind the beautifully crafted gown? This is Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis 1953 wedding dress. The designer was a black woman by the name of Anne Cole Lowe.
Lowe was also a Alabama native, calling Clayton her home. Lowe comes from a family of seamstress, her mother operated a small dress making shop. When Lowe’s mother passed away Lowe took over the shop.
Anne Lowe designed Jacqueline Bouvier debutante dress, Bouvier came back to Lowe when it was time to create her wedding dress. She also created the bridesmaids gowns as well.
Anne Lowe also designed the gown actress Olivia de Haviland wore in 1947, when she received her Oscar for “To Each His Own.”
Lowe has five of her gowns currently in the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
More of Lowe’s gowns can be seen in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem.
This is your Black Fashion History Report.
