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Title details for Only the Best by Kate Messner - Available

Only the Best

The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe

by Kate Messner
Margaret E. Powell
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
A careful snip, a delicate fold. Fabric the color of new petals. Skirts that flare like upside-down blossoms. A garden bursts into bloom!
There is no "good enough." For Ann, only the best will do.
Award-winning author Kate Messner and costume historian Margaret E. Powell tell the powerful story of the groundbreaking Ann Lowe, who grew up in a small Alabama dress shop and became the first nationally known African American
fashion designer. Sought after by millionaires and movie stars, her designs walked the red carpet and graced the wedding of Senator John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier.
At a time when the world around her thought African Americans deserved no more than second-class treatment, Ann expected no less of herself, and no less for herself, than the best.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 21, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705092934
      • File size: 13760 KB
      • Duration: 00:28:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 29, 2022
      Messner and Powell offer a persevering portrait of fashion designer Ann Lowe (1898–1981), from her early achievements in the South to success designing for Manhattan’s elite, including Jackie Kennedy’s wedding party. Evocative prose describes Lowe’s initial training at her Black family’s dress shop in Alabama and later accomplishments in Florida and New York, with culminating images showing Lowe in front of her own N.Y.C. boutique. Time and again, Lowe’s pride in her work—emphasized through the titular refrain—help her to excel and overcome hardships including structural racism and the death of her mother. Figural renderings by Robinson accompany, foregrounding dreamy ribbons and textile-textured layers that emulate the movement of fabric while picturing Lowe at work on full-skirted gowns. Ages 5–8.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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