Just an interesting true story I wrote from watching a short and then doing a little research…
The maker of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy’s 1953 wedding dress died poor with absolutely no money in 1981. Ann Lowe was a black woman and didn’t earn the kind of money she should have as a fashion designer even though the wealthiest Americans like the Rockefellers and du Ponts clamored for her work.
Ann Lowe expected to make about $700 profit from the entire Bouvier bridal party’s outfits, Ten days before the wedding, a flood destroyed everything. Ann had to remake the entire collection. In the end, Jacqueline’s wedding cost Ann about $2,200 instead of making her a profit.
Ann insisted that Jacqueline and everyone else be kept in the dark about her loss. Years later, facing a devastating IRS debt, an anonymous benefactor stepped in and paid the entire sum. To the day Ann Lowe died, she believed Jacqueline Kennedy was the one who rescued her from total ruin.
One more quick story: when Ann and her crew arrived at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Newport, RI, with all of the bridal party’s dresses and accessories, she was told they would have to walk a lot more to the other side carrying all of these things to enter through the back. Ann basically said, “We’ve worked too hard already. We come in the front door or we take everything back to the shop.”. They walked through the front door.
The wedding dress was made with 50 yards of ivory silk taffeta.
