Piper Huguley

I loved this amazing story of real-life fashion designer Ann Cole Lowe. From a rural cabin in the deep south of Alabama to a New York City showroom, author Piper Huguley tells the story of how a Black woman and granddaughter of slaves rose above personal struggles and racial prejudice to design and create one of America’s most famous wedding dresses for Jackie Kennedy.

Huguley meticulously researched and skillfully wrote this incredible historical novel based on the life of an unsung heroine and role model for all women. In addition to learning about Ann (Annie) Lowe, what makes this a memorable novel is the authentic depiction of racial inequality paired with the sexual discrimination of the time from the 1920s through the 1960s.

Lowe’s story contains heartbreak, often transformed to triumph through hope and determination. I appreciated Annie’s genuine faith, which – along with her perseverance – sustained her throughout her life.

Annie was a likable person, from the time we first meet her as a six-year-old girl living with her mother, sister, and grandmother, through her two marriages, her rise as a “colored seamstress” to society’s privileged, to her remarkable and talented career as an amazing designer and seamstress for the enormously affluent crème de la crème. Her designs were breathtaking works of art, and finally appreciated as such. She perceptively explained her talent as “Sewing was my way of seeing the world, of feeling the world.”

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Annie’s life and times, and highly recommend this 5-star read!… (mer)

This biographical historical novel is a great read for those interested in fashion design in the 20th c. Annie Lowe was a black woman with exceptional design skills. With the mentoring of her matriarchal household, the determination to never give up and some artistic patrons along the way, she created a business where she dressed the women of high society in the US. Her most well-known (now) dress was Jacqueline Kennedy’s wedding dress when she married JFK. But there are sore spots in this narrative where they shouldn’t have been. Why was she never recognized? Why did her name not attach to her art? This is well worth the read for the history and the unveiling of a person of color whose work was nearly erased. It is packed with facts but wrapped in a story that is easy to follow in its memoir format.… (mer)