Her one-of-a-kind designs made from the finest fabrics were an immediate success and attracted many wealthy, high society clients. In 1946, she designed the dress that Olivia de Havilland wore to accept the Academy Award for Best Actress for To Each His Own, although the name on the dress was Sonia Rosenberg.Īs she was not getting credit for her work, Lowe and her son opened a second salon, Ann Lowe’s Gowns, in New York City on Lexington Avenue in 1950. For a time, she worked on commission for stores such as Henri Bendel, Chez Sonia, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Having saved $20,000 from her earnings, Lowe returned to New York City in 1928. The salon catered to members of high society and quickly became a success. The following year, she opened her first dress salon, “Annie Cohen”. After graduating in 1919, Lowe and her son moved to Tampa, Florida. As the school was segregated, Lowe was required to attend classes in a room alone. In 1917, Lowe and her son moved to New York City where she enrolled at S.T. She complied for a time but left him after she was hired to design a wedding dress for a woman in Florida. After her marriage, Lowe’s husband wanted her to give up working as a seamstress. In 1912, she married Lee Cohen with whom she had a son, Arthur Lee. Using the skills she learned from her mother and grandmother, Lowe finished the dresses. At the time of her death, Lowe’s mother had been working on four ball gowns for the First Lady of Alabama, Elizabeth Kirkman O'Neal. Lowe’s mother died when Lowe was 16 years old. Lowe’s interest in fashion, sewing and designing came from her mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as seamstresses for the first families of Montgomery and other members of high society. Lowe was born in Clayton, Alabama, the great granddaughter of a slave woman and an Alabama plantation owner. In 1953, she designed the ivory silk taffeta wedding dress worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married Senator John F. Lowe’s one-of-a-kind designs were a favorite among high society matrons from the 1920s to the 1960s. Ann Cole Lowe (1898 – February 25, 1981) was an American fashion designer and the first African American to become a noted fashion designer.

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