By Her Own Design

Ann Cole Lowe was “one of America’s most significant designers” and the “first African American to have a shop on the famed fashion retail strip” of Madison Avenue in New York City (Nichols, Elaine. “Ann Lowe.” National Museum of African American History and Culture). Living from 1898 to 1981, Ann was born in Clayton, Alabama, to a family of seamstresses. Ann learned to sew from her mother, Janie, and grandmother Georgia. They created clothing for elite, wealthy women. Most accounts state that Ann worked on dresses by age six and crafted her signature cloth flowers by age 10.

Janie died suddenly in 1914, right before Ann got married. Various sources then state that Ann married Lee Cohen (changed to Cone in the book for pronunciation) when she was as young as 12 or as old as 16. In fact, “there are numerous inconsistencies related to Lowe’s early life, including her actual year of birth, age at the time of her first marriage, and whether she was widowed when she left Alabama for Florida” (“Ann Lowe”). Ann had her only child, Arthur, with Lee.

Due to a chance encounter with