Anne Cole Lowe

Image Source Page: http://www.la2day.com/fashion/the_history_of_black_fashion

Ann Cole Lowe was the earliest African American designer in 1950 to be part of the New York fashion establishment.  Married in 1912 at age 14, she would later have a few of her own couture salons in Tampa, Florida and New York.  Much like myself, she was the daughter and granddaughter of designer (me=seamstresses) ball gown makers, and grew up amongst quality fabrics and highly skilled workmanship. 

She worked for big named stores and salons such at Chez Sonia, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Madeleine Couture.  In 1946 she designed the dress Olivia de Havilland wore to accept the Academy Award for Best Actress for To Each His Own, but the name on the dress was Sonia Rosenberg.  This event was one moment that drove her entrepreneurial spirit.

   

Image Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/the_costume_institute/wedding_dress_anne_lowe//objectview.aspx?OID=80005316&collID=8&dd1=8

Five of her gowns are now in the permanent collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  Others can be found in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem (now closed).

She is most notably known for the wedding dress she designed for Jacqueline Bouvier who married J.F.K.  She also had clients from families such as Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Du Pont, and Roosevelt.

Image Source Page: http://orangemercury.blogspot.com/2009/09/african-american-history-jackies.html

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Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Lowe
2. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0300093314&id=0nxzw0wdIREC&pg=RA4-PA128&lpg=RA4-PA128&ots=uzTEFgRoNA&dq=Ann+Lowe&sig=aXLj2XnfxfPF-CtgIGfIaf_MCVI#v=onepage&q=Ann%20Lowe&f=false
3. http://www.indelibles.com/anne-cole.htm