Winterthur honors Ann Lowe, unsung designer of Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress

Sparkly, "fantasy" fairy tale dresses custom-made for Midwestern queens, princesses and countesses. Regal velvet, satin and chiffon couture gowns for New York's high society.

An ivory silk taffeta wedding dress sewn exclusively in 1953 for fashion icon and future first lady Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy that would be one of the most photographed bridal gowns in history.

Designs by dressmaker Ann Lowe for debutantes, heiresses, actresses and society brides were sought after from the 1920s until her retirement in 1972. While the creative Black couturier helped shape American fashion culture, today her achievements and name are not as widely recognized as her white male contemporaries.

"Ann Lowe is creating art. If she had lived in France, she'd have been as well known as Chanel or Dior," textile importer Arthur Dages told The Saturday Evening Post in 1964 about the designer who died in 1981 at age 82.

Since 2019 and even earlier, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library has been preparing a landmark exhibition to celebrate Lowe's unsung artistry and recognize her legacy as one of America's most influential designers of the 20th century.

It is the largest exhibition of Lowe's work to date and features 40 gowns, most of which have never before been on public view. It also features the work of contemporary couturiers whose inspiration and details on garments can be traced back to Lowe's pioneering work as the first successful Black fashion designer.

"Ann Lowe: American Couturier," which could rival Winterthur's popular "Downtown Abbey" and "The Crown" costume exhibitions, opens Saturday, Sept. 9, and runs through Jan. 7, 2024.

Here's what you need to know:

Is the Ann Lowe exhibition only for fashionistas?

Not at all. The dresses are stunning, of course, but the exhibition is especially interesting for those who want to delve into an unrecognized chapter of American history.

"This is something Winterthur does so well, telling stories with objects," said Winterthur Director and CEO Chris Strand.

The exhibition, on the second floor in the Henry S. McNeil Gallery, is set up somewhat like "The First Ladies" exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. While that exhibition has more than two dozen gowns, Winterthur's Ann Lowe exhibition has almost double the number of gowns.

Who was Ann Lowe?

Lowe was born in 1898 or 1899 in rural Clayton, Alabama, to a family of Black dressmakers. Her great-grandmother was an enslaved woman. She developed her expert skills under the tutelage of her mother, Janey, and grandmother Georgia. Lowe was known for a distinctive feminine and elegant style, which often incorporated her signature handmade floral elements. She moved through the Jim Crow South from Montgomery, Alabama, to Tampa, Florida, where she was a live-in dressmaker for a socialite for 10 years.

Elegant and stylish, Lowe, who wore dark glasses, black dresses and hats and kept her hair in a tight chignon, studied in 1917 at the S.T. Taylor School of Design in New York City. She moved back permanently to the city in 1928, living in Harlem.

Lowe had her own shops through the years and worked for other dressmaking houses, mostly on New York's Upper East Side.

Lowe was married twice, but neither marriage was successful. Her lone son, Arthur, was a partner in her business until his death in a car accident in 1958. She later lived with an "adopted" daughter, who was a former employee from her Tampa days, according to a 2021 New Yorker article.

Who were Ann Lowe's customers?

Mostly wealthy, white society women from New York and around the country with last names like Rockefeller, du Pont and Auchincloss. Her most famous clients were Jacqueline Kennedy and Marjorie Merriweather Post, a socialite who owned General Foods Corp. and whose Mar-a-Lago estate was sold to Donald Trump.

Lowe sometimes connected with Hollywood. Olivia de Havilland wore a strapless, aqua, hand-painted floral Lowe design when she was named best actress at the 1947 Academy Awards for “To Each His Own.” A photo of the dress, not on display, is in the exhibit. Lowe, who worked for Sonia Gowns at the time, was not given credit for the dress, and it's not known if it still survives today.

Lowe said she was snobby about who wore her couture.

“I’m not interested in sewing for cafe society or social climbers. I do not cater to Mary and Sue. I sew for the families of the Social Register," she said in an interview with Ebony magazine.

What will you see at Winterthur?

The entrance to the exhibition sets the tone for Lowe's stunningly beautiful creations. Her penchant for dramatic femininity is showcased in the first dress, a frothy, filmy blush pink silk and tulle "countess" gown created in 1961 for the Ak-Sar-Ben (Nebraska spelled backward) Coronation Ball in Omaha. The ball was a celebration of the state’s agricultural industry. It was later reimagined as a bridal gown.

The once-silver sequin embellishments on the gown have tarnished to a darker, almost black color. Still, the luster is not lost and now shows the mastery of Lowe's details, said Katya Roelse, a University of Delaware fashion and apparel studies professor.

Located further into the exhibit is a breathtaking salmon-hued "countess" fantasy gown worn at the same Omaha ball.

There are debutante dresses, wedding gowns, a 1926 beaded shift dress, and a sleek and sexy strapless 1955 black-and-silk velvet gown, unusual for Lowe because it lacked adornment. An understated, minimalist 1964 wedding dress worn by Ann Bellah Copeland, who wrote about the rich and famous, is on loan from the Delaware Historical Society.

All gowns are from private and institutional collections. Winterthur textile conservators conducted critical treatments on many of the aging dresses.

Kim Collinson, Winterthur's curator of exhibitions, said the discovery of some previously unknown Lowe pieces was rewarding, such as a vintage gown that came from a West Chester, Pennsylvania, boutique.

How did Lowe come to design Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding dress?

Jacqueline’s mother, Janet Lee Auchincloss, commissioned Lowe to create her daughter’s debutante and wedding dresses. But there's an intriguing side note to the portrait collar gown with frilly rosettes that the 24-year-old wore when she wed the future 35th president of the United States.

“It was chosen by her father-in-law-to-be, who wanted to create an American royalty moment and really set up his son as the heir to the family dynasty," fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell told CNN Style.

Lowe also designed all the bridesmaids' pink taffeta gowns. She never told the Bouvier or Kennedy families the original gowns were destroyed after a flood in her New York studio. Lowe had to remake the dresses less than two weeks before the big event at her own expense.

While covering the September wedding, The New York Times described Kennedy's chaste dress in detail but never named Lowe as the designer.

Although this is not mentioned in the Winterthur exhibition, Jacqueline Kennedy apparently wasn't in love with her bridal gown and would have preferred a French design.

“Even though it’s a beautiful dress, it was not what she wanted, and she actually compared it to a lampshade,” Chrisman-Campbell told CNN Style.

Is Jackie's wedding dress in the exhibition the original?

No, the original, stored at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, has not been on view for more than 20 years. It is too fragile. It will be 70 years old on Sept. 12. It was last featured in a 2003 exhibit at the library, marking the 50th wedding anniversary.

Katya Roelse, a University of Delaware fashion and apparel studies professor, and Kate Sahmel, Winterthur textile conservator, spent three days at the library studying and documenting the construction of the dress to create an exact reproduction for Winterthur.

Lowe left no known notes or blueprints about the creation of the ivory tissue silk gown. Roelse said she found a pin still stuck in the original dress while examining it, and kept all the details the same like a small blue bow on the petticoat trim.

Roelse said while she couldn't find 50 yards of historic fabric, she and UD students May Bordrick, Alex Culley and Kayla Brown used similar material to make the bouffant skirtwith its layers of silk taffeta, and the intricate scallop pintucks.

The original dress has tiny orange blossoms made of wax, but Roelse used polymer to make the flowers. Although it appears one of the flowers is missing in the back of the gown on display, Roelse said Lowe likely didn't include it so Jacqueline Kennedy would be more comfortable when she sat down during the wedding reception.

Roelse said while it took Lowe 10 days to make the dress, "it took me 10 days just to cut everything." The replica dress was completed in 200 hours. It will be donated to the Kennedy Library when the exhibition closes in January 2024.

Why is Ann Lowe not well known?

Her achievements went mostly unnoticed in her lifetime, although in 1964 The Saturday Evening Post called her "society's best-kept secret."

Some of Lowe's work bears her name, but other pieces were unlabeled or include the labels of those for whom she worked including Madeleine Couture, A.F. Chantilly and the Adam Room, Saks Fifth Avenue, said Elizabeth Way, associate curator at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology and guest curator of "Ann Lowe: American Couturier."

Way said the history of Lowe and her designs was not taught in design classes when Way attended the University of Delaware, and, for decades, Lowe was virtually unknown to the wider public.

Way said some of Lowe's designs now are on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History & Culture, bringing awareness of her artistry to a new audience.

Textile historian Margaret Powell, who once worked at Winterthur, originally conceived of the Ann Lowe exhibition. Her 2012 master's thesis was the first comprehensive study on the designer. Powell died in 2019. The exhibition is dedicated to her.

Are there Lowe dresses still in the wild?

There's an ongoing treasure hunt for "undiscovered" or "forgotten" original Lowe dresses to add to the exhibition. Those with gowns, images or other information regarding Lowe's work can send an email to LoweResearch@winterthur.org.

What happened to Ann Lowe?

Years of intensive, eye-straining labor took its toll on Lowe's health. She lost an eye due to glaucoma and was treated for cataracts in her other eye.

Lowe died at age 82 at the Queens, New York, home of her adopted daughter, Ruth. She was not wealthy at the end of her life and had declared bankruptcy.

Many women who purchased Lowe's dresses haggled over the price and didn't always pay her a fair amount for the cost of fabric and labor spent on the garments. Debts that Lowe owed to the IRS were paid by an anonymous donor who, according to a 2021 New Yorker article, might have been Jacqueline Kennedy.

Who has she inspired?

Lowe broke ground for contemporary Black designers. Her long career was couture, but her work was the inspiration for many fashion consumers who saw her work in the media and looked for similar designs in off-the-rack clothing. Lowe's legacy can be seen in the work of Black designers such as Bishme Cromartie, a former and current contestant on Bravo's "Project Runway"; B Michael; Amsale Aberra; Tracy Reese; Dapper Dan; and Kimberly Goldson. Gowns by these designers can be seen at the end of the exhibition.

Ticket information

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library is located at 5150 Kennett Pike near Centreville. General admission is $20 to $22. No timed tickets or reservations are required. Capacity is limited. Museum hours are Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Coming up

An Ann Lowe Fashion Symposium will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21, at Winterthur with guest curator Elizabeth Way, Winterthur staff, contemporary designers and students. The talk will explore Lowe's legacy and how it impacts fashion culture today. The cost is $85 for the conference only and $130 for the conference and an evening event. Space is limited. Register by Oct. 15 at winterthur.org/calendar/ann-lowe-fashion-conference.

Contact Patricia Talorico at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and follow her on X (Twitter) @pattytalorico Sign up for her Delaware Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Ann Lowe's place in fashion history honored with Winterthur exhibition