TAMPA, Fla. — Ann Lowe was a woman who created beautiful dresses and also made her mark as an African American designer for high society. She spent 10 years in Tampa perfecting her craft before moving to New York and eventually designing one of the most talked about wedding dresses in America.
In 1964, the Saturday Evening Post called her 'Society's Best Kept Secret.' By that time, Ann Lowe had designed brilliantly detailed ball gowns for Hollywood stars and New York socialites.
Susan Carter is the Curator and Registrar at the Henry B. Plant Museum where they have three Ann Lowe dresses.
"Ann Lowe happened to be discovered by a Tampa family who was visiting Dothan, Alabama back around 1915. They discovered her in a department store," Carter said. That's when Ann got an offer she couldn't refuse. She was just 18 years old. "And so they made this deal where Ann came back to Tampa and she wound up working for the Lee family as their dressmaker and seamstress."
Rodney Kite-Powell is a historian at the Tampa Bay History Center where they also have one of Ann's designs on display.
"[She] really established very much the first high fashion design of any kind in Tampa and absolutely the first one done by an African American person," he said.
Ann left Tampa briefly in 1917 for design school in New York. Carter says it was not an easy time for her.
"They segregated her into a room all by herself and she worked away and when they saw her designs and her work, everyone came in and started observing her. It was supposed to be a year-long program, it ended up only being 6 months for her because they said we taught you everything we can teach you."
Ann came back to Tampa and spent the next 10 years, working out of a home on Jefferson Street. It was there that she began designing gowns for the Gasparilla Court. Kite-Powell said this was a high honor: "Back then it was really the main social event for the year for the most socially elite whites in Tampa. So to be able to design that level of gown was very, very unique for an African American woman in Tampa."
In 1928, Ann moved back to New York to take her designs to the next level, but the timing was unfortunate.
"In 1929 you have the huge stock market crash, the Great Depression starts. So, the need for these high-end dresses wasn't quite as high. So she began working for other designers," Kite-Powell said.
Ann persevered and continued doing what she loved. She would spend hours designing beautiful, intricate, one-of-a-kind gowns.
"She actually designed Olivia de Haviland's dress that she wore to the Oscars when she won the Oscar for best actress in 1946. Then her big break came when she designed Jaqueline Bouvier-Kennedy's wedding dress in 1953," Kite-Powell said.
But others say didn't get the credit she deserved.
"...she was unknown, they never mentioned her name in all the publicity after the wedding," Carter said.
It wasn't until the 1960s that she began making a name for herself publicly, appearing on the Mike Douglas Show. To this day, despite her influence on high fashion and American couture. many people have never heard of Ann Lowe. However, Ann paved the way for many other black designers to establish themselves in the fashion world.
Ann Lowe died in 1981 in New York.
The dress currently on display at the Plant Museum in Tampa will be on display through March 3rd. The Museum will host its annual Picnic in the Park on March 3rd as well.