TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Anne Lowe is the first black fashion designer to gain international recognition and her career began by designing dresses for Gasparilla.
Born in Clayton, Alabama in 1898, Anne Lowe learned how to sew from her mother and grandmother. As a child, she had a passion for using scraps to make flowers similar to those in her family’s garden. This would later become her signature design.
Lowe began sewing at the age of five. In the year In 1916, at the age of 18, a local socialite, Josephine Edward Lee, moved to Tampa after meeting Lowe’s in a New York department store. Lee liked Lou’s clothes and the way they were made.
“Mrs. Lee had a large family here and needed someone to make their clothes, so Ann invited her to come back to Florida with her and set her up in her home,” said Susan Carter, curator of the Henry B. Plant Museum.
This changed Lou’s life. After moving and making clothes for the Lee family, Lorette quickly became a designer for Tampa’s elite. In 1924, she was chosen to design dresses for Gasparilla. Three of these dresses are on display at the Henry B. Plant Museum as part of their Gasparilla collection.
“Every now and then we run into treasures like Anne Lowe dresses,” Carter said. “We started with one, the museum community has one from a member, and we’ve got two more and they’re all related to Gasparilla.
A dress was made in 1924 for Sarah Licks Keller for Queen Gasparilla. This shows the famous flowers of Low. Another dress was made in 1926 and born by Catherine Broadus. The third is a silk dress with tulle flowers and pearls, worn by Rebecca Davis Smith for the Gasparilla Jewel Club in 1957.
“It was a bigger deal then, she lived, worked and made money designing Gasparilla’s clothes,” Andrew Brown said.
Brown is the co-owner of Paper Bar, a fashion and art brand. He studied Lou’s contribution to the environment.
“She was invited to work with Christian Dior in the ’40s and said, ‘I want to do that, but here in the United States,'” Browne said. If she hadn’t been here in Tampa, she wouldn’t be where she is now.
As the company’s director of education, Brown taught several students about Lowe. In fact, he and his partner Jason Radcliffe had their students interpret the 1947 Oscar dress Lowe made for Olivia de Havilland. In the year During a fundraiser in 2021, they presented their final design, mood board, and sketch.
After spending two years in Tampa, Lowe moved to New York to attend the ST Taylor School of Design. When she arrived, the school director did not welcome her because of her race. In fact, Loretta was separated from her classmates because they did not want a black woman in the same room.
Despite being discriminated against, Lou’s design skills far exceeded those of her classmates. Her design served as an example of exceptional work for the other students. Because of her skill level and abilities, she graduated her program in half the required time.
Lowe then designs clothes for major design houses, celebrities, royalty and more. Lowe designed Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. In fact, when she went to deliver her dress, they tried to let her through the back door because of her race, but she refused.
Lowe did not receive the recognition she deserved because of her skin color and the racial status of America.
“Anne didn’t put labels on her clothes, no one knew, she was a black woman designing clothes, she was just a fashion seamstress,” Carter said. She didn’t think much of it.
Because of that lack of recognition, Lowe wasn’t properly paid for her work, causing her to file for bankruptcy several times.
Lowe was the first black internationally recognized fashion designer. But now her flowers and designs are known internationally and have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian, the Henry B. Plant Museum and more will be on display.
Lowe’s dresses are on display at the Plant Museum until March 5.
