Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Kate Messner is one of my favorite authors and when I see one of her new books, I just have to grab it and read it right away. Today one of her books was offered as a Kindle Special Deal, and I did just that. Only the Best: The Exceptional Life and Fashion of Ann Lowe (Chronicle Books, 2022) is a beautiful book in every way, and with the issues in the news regarding the new administration’s executive orders regarding DEI, it is an important book, too.

As a middle school literature teacher, I was always looking for new books to put on the shelves in my middle school classroom. I first discovered Kate Messner in 2012 when I read Capture the Flag, book one of the Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries trilogy. I absolutely adore this book and the other two in the series, Hide and Seek (book two) and Manhunt (book three). I moved on from there to Messner’s other chapter books for middle grade and middle school readers. I even read one of her nonfiction books on PYTHONS, and let me tell you, I must really love an author to read a book about giant snakes in the Florida Everglades. The pictures alone kept me up late that night. A quick count in my Goodreads account shows that Only the Best is my 17th Messner book.

This book is beautifully illustrated by Erin Robinson. The pictures alone can tell the story of Ann Lowe, the gowns gracefully swirling on the page as though the pages were made of fabric blowing in the wind, but the narrative written by Messner and the late Margaret E. Powell bring Ann Lowe to life.

Ann Lowe was the daughter and granddaughter of seamstresses in deep south Alabama. Now reset your thoughts with the fact that Ann Lowe is African American and the year is 1914. Ann is 16 when her mother dies, and she takes over her mother’s dressmaking business. Her gowns are worn by the richest of debutantes and the most elite of socialites, but her own name is not on the label because she is Black. She saves money to go to a design school in NYC and has to fight her way in, proving that she has the money to pay for the course, only to find out that the white women in the class will not sew in the same room as her. But, Ann Lowe never quits, she never gives up. She keeps designing and sewing, with her eye for design and her unflinching dedication to perfection. And, she ends up accomplishing all of her goals, including her own name on the label of her original designs, and on the sign above the door of her very own store in NYC.

An interesting footnote in history is that Ann Lowe designed and created the bridal gown and bridesmaids’ gowns for none other than Jacqueline Bouvier for her marriage to John F. Kennedy.

Some of Lowe’s gowns are on exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and also in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She was the inspiration for many designers, including Christian Dior and the famous movie costume designer Edith Head.

I really enjoyed reading the story of Ann Lowe’s life as told by Messner and Powell. This book should be on the shelf of elementary school libraries everywhere, to give children a very real example of someone with talent who faced many challenges to bring that talent to life. What a powerful role model!