Ann Lowe
Designer, American, 1899-1981
Jacqueline Bouvier asked Ms. Lowe to design all the gowns for her wedding to Senator John F. Kennedy. Then, 10 days before the wedding, a water line burst in the store, ruining 10 of the dresses. But Ms. Lowe managed to remake all of the gowns by the wedding day. Lowe had a design studio in New York City, "Ann Lowe Originals".
While living in the state of her birth, Ann Lowe, created the inaugural ball gown for the wife of Alabama’s governor. After that, the teenager was called to sew for white Alabama society, including debutantes and politicians. Shemoved to New York when she was sixteen and began formal study in a design school. Lowe opened a dressmaking shop on Madison Avenue and became couturier to the rich and famous, including the Astors, du Ponts, Rockefellers, Roosevelts, and Vanderbilts. She created over 1,000 gowns a year, all one of a kind items, for New York’s society. Her creations were sold in stores such as Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, and I. Magnin. It was not until 1953, when she designed the bridal gown, bridesmaid’s dresses, and the mother-of-the-bride dress for Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding to then Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy that her work was widely recognized. The bridal gown, however, was her most famous design and consisted of over fifty yards of ivory silk and taffeta.
While living in the state of her birth, Ann Lowe, created the inaugural ball gown for the wife of Alabama’s governor. After that, the teenager was called to sew for white Alabama society, including debutantes and politicians. Shemoved to New York when she was sixteen and began formal study in a design school. Lowe opened a dressmaking shop on Madison Avenue and became couturier to the rich and famous, including the Astors, du Ponts, Rockefellers, Roosevelts, and Vanderbilts. She created over 1,000 gowns a year, all one of a kind items, for New York’s society. Her creations were sold in stores such as Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, and I. Magnin. It was not until 1953, when she designed the bridal gown, bridesmaid’s dresses, and the mother-of-the-bride dress for Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding to then Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy that her work was widely recognized. The bridal gown, however, was her most famous design and consisted of over fifty yards of ivory silk and taffeta.